LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


Gl  FT    OF 


Class 


I  S  T  O  R  Y 


OF  THE 


EDERAL  LAND  GRANT 
OF  JULY  2,  1862 


PROVIDING  FOR  THE  ESTABLISHMENT 
OF  COLLEGES  FOR  THE  BENEFIT  OF 
AGRICULTURE  AND  THE  MECHANIC 
ARTS 

AS  RELATING  TO 


CORNELL  UNIVERSITY 


SAMUEL  D.  HALLIDAY 


History  of  the  Agricul- 
tural College  Land! 
Grant  Act  of  July 
2,  1862. 


DEVOTED  LARGELY  TO  THE  HISTORY  OF 

THE  "LAND  SCRIP"  WHICH   UNDER 

THAT  GRANT  WAS  ALLOTTED  TO 

THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

AND    AFTERWARDS 

GIVEN  TO  CORNELL 

UNIVERSITY. 


1905: 

ITHACA  DEMOCRAT  PRESS 
Ithaca.  N.  Y. 


REPORT. 


To  THE  BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES  OF  CORNELL  UNIVERSITY  : 

At  a  meeting  of  this  Board  held  October  24,  1903,  the 
Chairman  of  the  Land  Committee  was  requested  "to  prepare 
and  present  to  this  Board"  a  History  of  the  College  Land 
Grant  of  1862.  It  was  soon  discovered  that  to  make  a  com- 
plete history  as  requested  would  involve  a  great  deal  of  in- 
vestigation and  research.  In  pursuance  of  authority  after- 
wards given,  Mr.  A.  B.  Zerns,  a  recent  graduate  of  Cornell, 
was  employed  to  make  that  research. 

Every  letter,  telegram,  contract,  memorandum  or  other 
document  in  the  office  of  the  Comptroller  of  the  State  of 
New  York  relating  to  the  "Land  Scrip"  was  read  and  ex- 
amined by  him  and  the  results  of  his  researches  were  very 
carefully  and  very  accurately  collated.  A  similar  research 
was  made  in  the  Treasurer's  office  and'  in  the  Library.  All 
available  literature  of  every  nature  was  also  examined  and 
interesting  information  compiled.  Largely  from  the  mass 
of  material  thus  collected,  this  History  has  been  prepared. 

E.  L.  Williams,  originally  as  clerk  in  the  Business  Office, 
afterwards  as  Secretary  of  the  Land  Committee  and  Treasurer 
of  the  University,  became  very  familiar  with  the  management 
of  the  socalled  Western  Lands.  In  fact,  it  may  be  justly  said 
that  much  of  the  success  of  the  Land  Committee,  particularly 
since  the  death  of  Henry  W.  Sage,  is  due  to  the  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  lands,  the  executive  ability  and  the  sound 
judgment  possessed  by  E.  L.  Williams,  its  Secretary.  The 


1G0622 


parts  of  this  history  relating  to  that  management  were  special- 
ly prepared  and  written  by  him.  From  memory  he  was  also 
able  to  furnish  interesting  events  and  incidents  which 
naturally  would  not  go  into  the  records,  but,  if  not  now  re- 
corded, would  soon  be  lost  forever. 

An  effort  has  been  made  to  briefly  trace  the  events  lead- 
ing up  to  the  enactment  of  the  act  of  1862.  Then  follows, 
a'mong  other  things,  a  narration  of  the  efforts  of  Ezra  Cornell 
to  secure  this  fund  for  Cornell  University.  A  more  particu- 
lar history  of  the  management  of  the  scrip  by  the  State  and 
afterwards  of  the  lands,  first  by  Ezra  Cornell  and  subsequent- 
ly by  the  University  itself,  is  finally  given. 

Hoping  that  this  History  will  be  found  to  be  accurate,  it 
is  now  "presented  to  this  Board"  as  requested. 

Dated,  Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  1ST.  Y.,  Oct.  28th,  1905. 

S.  D.  HALLIDAY, 
Chairman  of  the  Land  Committee. 


History  of  the    Agricultural   College   Land 
Grant  Act  of  July  2,  1862, 

Devoted  largely  to  the  history  of  the  "Land  Scrip," 

which  under  that   grant   was  allotted  to  the 

State  of  New  York  and  afterwards  given 

to   Cornell   University. 


PASSAGE  OF  LAND   GRANT  ACT  OF  1862. 

On  Dec.  14,  1857,  Mr.  Morrill  of  Vermont  introduced  a 
bill  into  the  House  of  Representatives,  "Donating  public 
lands  to  the  several  states  which  may  provide  colleges  for  the 
benefit  of  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts/5  The  bill 
granted  to  each  state,  for  the  maintenance  of  such  schools, 
20,000  acres  of  public  land  for  each  Senator  and  Representa-. 
tive  in  Congress  to  which  the  state  was  entitled.  If  these 
lands  could  be  located  within  the  state  itself,  then  actual 
grants  were  to  be  made.  If,  however,  the  state  contained  no 
such  lands  within  its  borders,  it  was  to  receive  an  equivalent 
amount  of  land  scrip  or  land  certificates,  which  could  then 
be  sold  and  the  specified  amount  of  land  located  by  the  pur- 
chaser upon  unoccupied  government  land  within  other  states. 
As  in  the  later  bill,  no  state  could  itself  locate  land  'scrip 
within  the  borders  of  another  state.  The  whole  measure  was 
practically  identical  with  the  Land  Grant  Act  which  was 
passed  in  1862. 

The  bill  encountered  considerable  opposition  in  both  houses, 
particularly  from  the  Southern  members  but,  after  several 


uns 


uccessf ul  attempts,  was  finally  passed  and  sent  to  President 
Buchanan  for  his  signature.  The  President,  however,  re- 
turned the  bill  on  Feb.  24,  1859  with  his  veto  and  a  message 
giving  at  length  his  reasons  for  so  doing.  His  opposition 
seemed  to  be  based  chiefly  upon  the  ground  that  the  bill  was 
unconstitutional  and  that  it  "intermingled  national  and  state 
affairs  in  a  pernicious  manner/7  An  attempt  was  made  in 
the  House  to  pass  the  bill  over  his  veto  but  failed. 

A  change  of  administration  soon  afterward  took  place, 
and  on  Dec.  16,  1861,  Mr.  Morrill  introduced  into  the  House 
a  bill  drawn  upon  the  same  lines  as  the  earlier  measure. 
Some  of  the  arguments  which  Mr.  Morrill  used  in  support  of 
these  bills  may  be  of  interest.  First  he  laid  great  emphasis 
upon  the  extraordinary  interest  manifested  in  all  parts  of 
the  country,  as  was  indicated  by  a  large  number  of  petitions 
for  such  a  measure,  which  had  been  received  from  states, 
societies,  and  individuals.  He  next  showed  how  little  had 
been  done  by  the  government  in  aid  of  agriculture,  as  com- 
pared with  the  important  measures  which  had  been  taken  in 
behalf  of  other  forms  of  industry.  Finally,  he  demonstrated 
that  agriculture  is  the  fundamental  basis  of  a  country's  pros- 
perity and  that,  if  agriculture  is  not  intelligently  carried  on, 
the  welfare  of  the  whole  country  is  endangered. 

This  second  bill  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Public 
Lands.  "While  it  was  held  in  this  Committee,  the  majority 
of  which  were  hostile  to  the  measure,  Senator  Wade  of  Ohio 
was  asked  by  Mr.  Morrill  to  introduce  the  bill  into  the  Senate 
and  on  May  5,  1862,  a  bill  identical  with  the  House  bill  was 
introduced  by  him  and  referred  to  the  Senate  Committee  on 
Public  Lands,  who  reported  it  back  with  an  amendment  May 
16,  1862.  The  bill  was  considered  from  time  to  time,  and 
finally  passed  the  Senate  June  10,  1862,  and  the  House  of 
Eepresentatives,  without  reference  to  committee,  June  17, 
1862."  It  is  important  to  note,  in  this  connection,  that  the 
Southern  representatives,  from  whom  had  come  most  of  the 


opposition  to  the  previous  bill,  were  no  longer  in  Congress, 
President  Lincoln  had  already  promised,  before  his  election, 
that  he  would  sign  the  bill  if  it  came  before  him ;  accordingly 
the  measure  received  his  signature  on  July  2,  1862,  and  be- 
came a  law. 

The  full  title  of  the  act  is  "An  Act  donating  public  lands 
to  the  several  States  and  Territories  which  may  provide  col- 
leges for  the  benefit  of  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts/' 
To  each  state  was  granted  30,000  acres  of  public  land  for 
each  Senator  and  Eepresentative  in  Congress  to  which  the 
state  was  entitled  under  the  census  of  1860.  States  having 
a  sufficient  amount  of  public  lands  within  their  borders, 
"subject  to  sale  at  private  entry"  at  $1.25  an  acre,  could 
locate  their  share  of  the  grant  upon  these  lands.  Other 
states  could  not  locate  their  lands  at  all,  but  received,  instead 
of  the  lands  themselves,  a  corresponding  amount  of  land 
scrip.  This  scrip  could  ten  be  sold  and  the  proceeds  de- 
voted to  the  purposes  of  the  act.  The  purchasers  of  the  scrip 
could  locate  on  any  of  the  unappropriated  lands  of  the  United 
States  "subject  to  sale  at  private  entry  at  $1.25  an  acre  or 
less/'  with  the  restriction  that  not  more  than  1,000,000  acres 
of  land  should  be  located  in  any  one  state,  and  that  no 
mineral  lands  could  be  selected  in  any  state. 

All  money  derived  from  the  sale  of  land  or  scrip  was  to  be 
invested  in  stocks  of  the  United  States,  stocks  of  the  states, 
or  in  some  other  safe  stocks,  paying  not  less  than  5  per  cent 
upon  their  par  value.  The  capital  of.  this  fund  could  not  be 
spent,  it  must  "remain  forever  undiminished ;"  all  of  the 
interest  upon  the  fund  is  appropriated  "to  the  endowment, 
support,  and  maintenance  of  at  least  one  college  where  the 
loading  object  shall  be,  without  excluding  other  scientific  and 
classical  studies,  and  including  military  tactics,  to  teach  such 
branches  of  learning  as  are  related  to  agriculture  and  the 
mechanic  arts,  in  such  manner  as  the  legislatures  of  the  States 
may  respectively  prescribe,  in  order  to  promote  the  liberal 


8 

and  practical  education  of  the  industrial  classes,  in  the  several 
pursuits  and  professions  of  life." 

None  of  the  interest  upon  this  fund  could  be  used  for 
the  purchase  or  erection  of  buildings,  but  "a  sum,  not 
exceeding  ten  per  centum  upon  the  amount  received  by  any 
state  under  the  provisions  of'  this  act,  may  be  expended  for 
the  purchase  of  lands  for  sites  or  experimental  farms  when- 
ever authorized  by  the  respective  legislatures  of  said  States." 
A  number  of  details  are  provided  for  in  this  act,  which  do 
not  concern  us  here,  but  it  should  be  noted  that  all  the  ex- 
penses of  the  management  of  the  scrip  must  be  borne  by  the 
S'tate,  and  that  if  any  portion  of  the  fund  or  the  interest 
should  be  lost  the  State  must  itself  make  up  the  deficiency. 
In  order  to  receive  the  benefits  of  the  act,  a  State  must  ac- 
cept the  conditions  through  its  legislature,  within  two  years, 
and  must  provide  within  five  years  ia  college  answering  the 
requirements  laid  down  in  the  act.  If  the  State  does  not 
provide  a  college  complying  with  these  requirements,  it  must 
pay  back  to  the  United  States  the  amount  of  the  scrip  pre- 
viously received. 

APPROPRIATION  OP  NEW  YORK  STATE'S  SHARE 
OF  PROCEEDS. 

By  an  act  passed  May  5,  1863,  New  York  State  formally 
accepted  the  conditions  of  the  Land  Grant  Act  and  author- 
ized the  Comptroller  to 'receive  the  scrip  and  dispose  of  it  as 
provided  in  the  act.  The  question  then  arose  as  to  what 
institution  or  institutions  should  receive  the  benefit  of  the 
proceeds.  Although  there  were  <a  number  of  small  colleges  in 
the  state,  all  desirous  of  receiving  a  share  of  the  grant,  it 
soon  became  apparent  that  the  real  contest  lay  between  two 
institutions,  the  State  Agricultural  College  at  Ovid,  and  the 
People's  College  at  Havana.  In  general  it  may  be  said  that 


9 

the  former  represented  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  state, 
while  the  latter  represented  the  mechanical. 

The  State  Agricultural  College  at  Ovid  was  the  result  of 
a  movement  among  the  agriculturalists  of  the  State.     For 
many  years  those  interested  in  agriculture,  and  more  par- 
ticularly the  New  York  State  Agricultural  Society,  had  been 
endeavoring  to  establish  such  a  college.     In  1836,  they  had 
so  far  succeeded  as  to  obtain  a  charter  from  the  legislature 
and  an  attempt  was  made  to  locate  the  college  near  Albany, 
but  the  whole  matter  failed  because  of  lack  of  funds.     Efforts 
'in  this  direction  were  continued,  however,  and  in  1853  an  act 
was  passed,  incorporating  the  "New  York  State  Agricultural 
College,"  and  providing  that  the  state  should  loan  the  col- 
lege $40,000  for  twenty-one  years  without  interest,  as  soon  as 
an  equal  amount  should  be  raised  by  subscriptions.     An  at- 
tempt to  locate  the  college  at  Fayette  having  failed,  it  was 
finally  determined  to  establish  the  institution  at  Ovid,  whose 
citizens  pledged  themselves  to  raise  the  necessary  $40,000. 
On  March  31,  1856,  the  legislature  authorized  the  loan  of 
$40,000,  taking  a  mortgage  for  twenty  years,  without  interest, 
upon  the  college  buildings  as  security.     The  corner  stone  of 
the  main  building  was  laid  on  July  7,  1859,  and  the  college 
opened  in  Dec.,  1860. 

The  college  was  intended  for  instruction  in  agriculture  and 
for  nothing  more.  Accordingly,  although  both  the  practical 
and  scientific  aspects  of  agriculture  were  taught,  no  instruc- 
tion whatever  was  given  in  languages  or  similar  subjects. 
Several  prominent  men  were  connected  with  the  institution, 
among  them  Ezra  Cornell,  who  was  one  of  the  trustees,  but 
the  college  itself  had  only  a  short  existence.  Its  president, 
Brig.  Oen.  M.  E.  Patrick,  was  a  West  Point  graduate  and  at 
the  opening  of  the  Civil  War  he  was  called  to  Albany  to  assist 
in  raising  troops,  thus  necessitating  the  closing  of  the  col- 
lege. The  intention  at  the  time  was  that  it  shoufd  soon  be 
reopened,  but  the  fact  thait  a  large  number  of  its  students  had 


10 

enlisted  and  that  it  was  without  funds  of  any  kind,  made  this 
impossible,  and  the  college  never  resumed  its  work.  In  1863 
the  college  had  been  closed  for  two  years. 

The  mechanical  interests  of  the  state  were  represented  by 
the  People's  College  at  Havana.  This  college  or  technical 
school  was  the  result  of  what  was  known  as  the  "Mechanics' 
Mutual  Protection,"  an  association  which  had  been  formed 
in  1843  by  mechanics  for  the  purpose  of  raising  themselves 
to  their  "true  position  in  society."  Originally  the  plan  seems 
not  to  have  embodied  the  idea  of  a  technical  school,  but  rather 
the  general  diffusion  of  scientific  and  practical  knowledge  in 
other  ways.  The  establishment  of  a  school  of  technology  was 
first  suggested  in  1848-49  by  Mr.  Harrison  Howard,  an  in- 
fluential meniber  of  the  association,  and  afterwards  one  of  the 
chief  promoters  of  the  People's  College. 

Mr.  Hbw&rd's  scheme  called  for  the  foundation  of  a 
school  where  mechanics  could  get  such  instruction  as  they 
needed,  without  the  necessity  of  so  much  preliminary  study 
which  was  required  in  other  colleges  and  which  was  thought 
to  be  useless.  It  was  felt  that  none  of  the  established 
colleges  met  the  requirements  and  that  a  new  institution 
must  be  founded.  At  first  the  project  met  with  little  favor, 
but  Mr.  Howard  persisted  in  his  efforts  with  the  result 
that  on  August  15,  1851,  an  association  was  formed  at 
Lockport  for  the  purpose  of  furthering  the  establishment 
of  a  mechanical  college.  Many  prominent  men  were  mem- 
bers of  the  association,  among  whom  were  William  H.  Seward, 
Martin  Van  Buren,  and  Horace  Greeley.  Mr.  Howard  was 
the  secretary. 

This  new  association  was  closely  connected  with  the  Me- 
chanics' Mutual  Protection,  and  the  combined  strength  of  the 
two  must  have  been  considerable.  Before  the  election  of  1852 
circulars  were  sent  to  all  candidates  for  the  Legislature  and 
Governorship,  asking  for  their  support  for  the  college  and 
those  who  refused  were,  in  many  cases,  defeated.  As  a  result 
of  these  efforts  a  charter  was  granted  to  the  college  in  1853. 


11 

The  Prospectus  of  the  People's  College,  issued  in  1852,  in 
advance  of  its  charter,  shows  that  the  institution  was  expected 
to  cover  a  broad  range  of  studies.  "Its  distinctive  aim  shall  be 
the  dissemination  of  Practical  Science,  including  Chemistry, 
Geology,  Mineralogy,  and  those  sciences  most  immediately  and 
vitally  essential  to  agriculture  and  the  Useful  Arts,  'although 
instruction  in  the  classics  shall  be  amply  provided."  The  dif- 
ference between  the  purpose  of  this  institution  and  that  of 
the  State  Agricultural  College  should  be  noted.  The  latter 
confines  its  instruction  entirely  to  agriculture;  the  former 
is  much  broader  and  includes  not  only  agriculture  and  "the 
various  branches  of  Manufactures  and  the  Mechanic  Arts," 
but  the  Classics  as  well.  The  original  purpose  of  the  college 
was  to  be  constantly  kept  in  mind,  however,  by  the  provision 
that  all  students  were  to  be  required  to  engage  in  manual 
labor  for  parts  of  five  days  in  the  week. 

For  several  years'  after  the  charter  was 'obtained  nothing 
definite  was  accomplished,  but  in  1857  the  decision  was  made 
to  locate  the  college  at  Havana.  This  was  due  to  the  efforts 
of  Mr.  Charles  Cook,  a  resident  of  that  place,  who  held  out 
many  inducements  and  promised  financial  support  if  it  were 
located  there.  In  the  same  year  the  Eev.  Amos  Bcown,  who 
had  been  instrumental  in  the  foundation  of  the  State  Agri- 
cultural College,  was  elected  president  of  the  People's  Col- 
lege, and  Mr.  Cook  was  chosen  chairman  of  the  Executive 
Committee.  On  Sept.  2,  1858,  the  corner  stone  of  the  main 
building  was  laid  with  elaborate  ceremonies,  in  the  presence 
of  a  large  number  of  people.  President  Mark  Hopkins  of  Wil- 
liams College  was  the  principal  speaker,  and  addresses  were 
also  delivered  by  Horace  G-reeley  and  others. 

After  this  auspicious  beginning  little  seems  to  have  been 
done  for  the  next  few  years,  except  in  attempts  to  get  legis- 
lative aid.  The  Morrill  Bill  was  before  Congress  at  this  time 
and  several  supporters  of  the  People's  College,  including  Mr. 


12 

Cook  and  President  Brown,  went  to  Washington  and  exerted 
their  influence  in  behaU  of  the  measure,  the  latter  being  par- 
ticularly active  and  working  under  the  personal  direction 
of  Mr.  Morrill.  Several  United  States  Senators  have  since 
expressed  the  opinion  that  the  passage  of  the  Morrill  Act  was 
largely  due  to  this  work  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Brown. 

As  soon  as  the  Act  had  been  passed,  the  promoters  of  the 
People's  College  transferred  their  activity  to  the  state  and 
began  to  exert  all  their  influence  to  secure  the  New  York 
State  share  of  the  grant  for  their  institution.  The  other 
colleges  of  the  state  likewise  put  in  their  claims  and  the 
People's  College  encountered  strong  opposition,  its  most 
formidable  competitor  being,  as  has  been  said,  the  State 
Agricultural  College,  at  Ovid.  Largely  through  the  influence 
of  Mr.  Cook,  who  was  State  Senator  at  the  time,  the  People's 
College  was  victorious  and  was  awarded  the  whole  of  the 
proceeds  of  the  grant.  An  outburst  of  protest  on  the  part  of 
the  friends  of  the  Agricultural  College  immediately  followed. 
The  advocates  of  this  college,  although  it  had  been  open  only 
one  year  and  had  been  closed  for  two  years,  considered  that 
it  was  more  entitled  to  the  appropriation  than  was  an  insti- 
tution which  had  never  opened  its  doors  at  all.  There  were 
many  complaints  that  the  award  had  been  made  in  opposition 
to  the  wishes  of  the  classes  most  interested,  that  it  had  been 
secured  through  a  political  trick  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Cook, 
and  that  the  other  college  had  been  unjustly  deprived  of  its 
rights. 

The  political  shrewdness  and  influence  of  Mr.  Cook  un- 
doubtedly were  important  factors  in  securing  the  grant,  but 
it  is  hardly  fair  to  assume  that  there  were  no  other  reasons 
for  the  award.  The  prospects  of  the  People's  College  were 
much  brighter  than  their  rivals,  the  former  having  re- 
ceived promise  of  financial  support  from  Mr.  Cook,  while 
the  latter  had  been  forced  to  remain  closed  because  of  lack  of 


13 

funds.  This  and  the  fact  that  the  People's  College  was  much 
broader  in  scope  and  was  intended  to  give  instruction,  not 
only  in  agriculture,  but  also  in  the  Mechanic  Arts  and  the 
Classics,  while  the  State  Agricultural  College  was  to  confine 
its  attention  entirely  to  agriculture,  are  considerations  which 
miay  well  have  had  weight  in  determining  the  award. 

The  whole  matter  was  thought  to  be  finally  settled  by  an 
act  of  the  legislature  passed  May  14,  1863.  This  act  ap- 
propriated the  entire  proceeds  of  the  land  grant  to  the 
People's  College,  but  set  certain  requirements,  which  that  in- 
stitution must  comply  with,  and  which  the  Eegents  of  the 
University  of  the  State  of  New  York  must  certify  to,  before 
the  college  could  receive  any  of  the  money. 

These  requirements  were  hardly  more  than  were  necessary 
to  comply  with  the  provisions  of  the  Morrill  Act.  Before  be- 
coming entitled  to  the  proceeds  of  the  grant,  the  trustees  of 
the  college  must  have  on  hand  ten  competent  professors  to  give 
instruction  in  branches  relating  to  agriculture,  the  mechanic 
arts,  and  military  tactics;  they  must  own  and  have  paid  for 
without  encumbrance,  college  grounds  and  buildings  suitable 
for  two  hundred  and  fifty  students,  a  library,  scientific  ap- 
paratus, and  cabinet  of  natural  history,  a  suitable  farm  of  two 
hundred  acres,  equipped  with  stock  and  implements,  and  suit- 
able shops  and  machinery  for  teaching  the  mechanic  arts. 
Three  years  were  allowed  the  trustees  within  which  to  meet 
these  conditions. 

Under  such  circumstances  the  future  of  the  institution 
looked  bright.  But  an  unforseen  difficulty  arose.  Mr.  Cook, 
the  principal  financial  supporter  of  the  college,  suffered  a 
stroke  of  paralysis,  which  so  changed  his  whole  nature  that 
he  absolutely  refused  to  advance  any  more  money  to  the  in- 
stitution. The  college  had  been  located  at  Havana,  and  had 
received  the  state  appropriation  largely  with  the  expecta- 
tion that  the  support  of  Mr.  Cook  would  place  it  on  a  sound 
financial  basis.  After  Mr.  Cook's  change  of  attitude,  a  feel- 


14 

ing  of  dissatisfaction  gradually  arose  among  many  of  the 
strongest  supporters  of  the  college,  and  the  belief  became 
prevalent  that  it  would  never  be  able  to  comply  with  the  re- 
quirements laid  down  by  the  state  legislature. 

About  this  time  Mr.  Ezra  Cornell  who,  as  a  trustee  of  the 
Agricultural  College,  took  a  deep  interest  in  educational 
matters,  started  a  movement  to  unite  the  friends  of  the 
People's  College  and  the  State  Agricultural  College,  and  to 
"make  up  a  fund  sufficient  to  purchase  all  the  scrip  of  the 
State  and  locate  it  for  the  benefit  of  both  colleges,  entering 
into  an  agreement  for  an  equal  division  of  the  profits  to  arise 
from  the  transaction  between  the  two  colleges  at  Havana  and 
Ovid."  Mr.  Cornell  offered  to  supply  a  tenth  of  the  funds 
necessary  to  accomplish  this  purpose,  but  neither  Mr.  Cook 
nor  any  of  the  friends  of  either  institution  would  join  him  in 
such  a  project.  The  incident  is  of  interest,  however,  in  show- 
ing that  Mr.  Cornell  had  already  conceived  the  idea  of  pur- 
chasing the  scrip,  which  he  afterwards  carried  out  so  suc- 
cessfully in  behalf  of  Cornell  University. 

Unsuccessful  in  his  endeavor  to  unite  the  forces  of  the  two 
colleges  and  believing  that  the  People's  College  would  never 
be  in  a  position  to  avail  itself  of  the  grant,  Mr.  Cornell,  in 
the  winter  of  1864,  introduced  a  bill  in  the  State  Legislature 
to  divide  the  land  grant  fund  between  the  People's  College 
and  the  State  Agricultural  College.  The  measure  encoun- 
tered the  opposition  of  Senator  Andrew  D.  White,  who  was 
unwilling  that  the  fund  should  be  divided,  and  the  bill  was 
defeated,  chiefly  by  his  efforts. 

In  the  following  summer,  at  a  meeting  of  the  State  Agri- 
cultural Society  at  Bochester  Mr.  Cornell,  who  was  President 
of  that  Society,  offered  to  give  an  additional  $300,000  to  the 
Agricultural  College,  if  one-half  of  the  land  grant,  equal  to  an 
income  of  $30,000  a  year,  could  be  secured.  The  estimated 
value  of  the  land  grant  at  that  time  was  $600,000,  so  Mr.  Cor- 
nell thought  that  by  this  offer  he  would  obviate  the  objection 


15 

of  dividing  the  fund.  The  offer  was  received  with  enthusi 
asm  by  most  of  those  present  but  Mr.  White,  who  had  been 
invited  by  Mr.  Cornell  to  attend  the  meeting,  absolutely  re- 
fused to  agree  to  any  division  of  the  funds  whatever,  probably 
thinking  that  the  estimate  of  $600,000  was  too  low.  Mr. 
White  offered,  however,  to  use  all  his  influence  in  support  of 
the  measure,  if  Mr.  Cornell  would  ask  for  the  whole  of  the 
grant  instead  of  only  half  of  it,  and  would  add  to  it  the 
$300,000.  MT.  Cornell  evidently  gave  this  plan  serious  con- 
sideration, for  the  next  fall  he  proposed  to  Mr.  WThite  to  ask 
for  the  whole  of  the  grant  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  new 
institution,  and  to  give  $500,000  instead  of  $300,000  if  this 
grant  could  be  secured.  Mr.  White  then  joined  enthusiastic- 
ally into  the  project  and,  in  conference  with  Charles  J.  Fol- 
ger  of  Geneva,  the  charter  of  Cornell  University  was  drawn 
up. 

But  the  fact  that  Mr.  Cornell  and  Mr.  White  had  joined 
forces  did  not  mean  that  the  success  of  the  new  university 
was  assured.  Many  difficulties  remained  to  be  encountered. 
The  time  allowed  to  the  People's  College  within  which  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  the  legislature  had  still  a  year  to  run  and 
the  appropriation  could  hardly  be  taken  from  it  if  there  was 
any  prospect  that  the  college  would  comply  with  these  con- 
ditions. It  was  generally  known  that  such  was  not  the  case 
but,  in  order  to  have  official  information  upon  the  subject,  a 
resolution  was  passed  by  the  New  York  Senate  on  Feb.  4, 
1865,  requesting  the  Board  of  Eegents  to  investigate  the 
People's  College  and  report  whether  the  college  was  likely  to 
be  in  a  condition  to  avail  itself  of  the  fund  within  the  pre- 
scribed time. 

In  answer  to  this  'inquiry  the  Eegents  reported,  on  Feb. 
14,  that  they  had  investigated  the  college  and  that,  although 
the  college  buildings  were  excellent  and  well  adapted 
to  their  purpose,  the  requirements  had  not  been  complied 
with,  the  buildings  would  accommodate  only  one  hundred  and 


16 

fifty  students,  instead  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  as  was  re- 
quired ;  there  were  only  five  professors  instead  of  ten ;  instruc- 
tion was  being  given  only  in  the  preparatory  course;  and  no 
library,  scientific  apparatus,  shops,  machinery,  farm  or  stock 
had  been  provided.  It  was  clear  that  sufficient  progress  was 
not  being  made,  and  under  such  circumstances  there  would 
seemingly  be  no  injustice  in  appropriating  the  fund  to  an- 
other institution  which  would  properly  comply  with  the  re- 
quirements. 

The  bill  incorporating  Cornell  University  and  appropriat- 
ing to  it  the  income  of  the  land  grant  fund  had  already  been 
introduced  on  Feb.  7,  1865,  and  encountered  tremendous  op- 
position.    Now  that  the  subject  of  the    award    was    again 
taken  up  each  of  the  denominational  colleges  tried  to  obtain  a 
share  of  the  proceeds  and  they  succeeded  in  stirring  up  a 
religious  sentiment  against  the  act,  on  account  of  the  proposed 
non-sectarian   character   of   the  new   university.     The   rep- 
resentative of  the  denominational  colleges  and  those  of  the 
People's  College  joined  forces  to  fight  against  the  new  in- 
stitution.    Traces  of  this  opposition  may  be  found  in  the 
charter  itself,  especially  in  the  case  of  the  two  most  formid- 
able antagonists,  the  People's  College  and  the  Genesee  Col- 
lege at  Lima. 

The  supporters  of  the  People's  College  were  naturally  un- 
willing to  allow  the  fund  to  be  taken  away  from  them  and 
succeeded  in  bringing  considerable  strength  to  bear  against 
the  measure.  This  opposition,  however,  came  from  Mr.  Cook 
and  those  who  were  at  that  time  associated  with  him  in  the 
management  of  the  college  rather  than  from  its  original  pro- 
moters. Most  of  the  latter,  including  Mr.  Harrison  Howard, 
who  had  been  very  active  in  the  organization  of  the  People's 
College,  had  lost  all  hope  in  that  institution  and,  far  from 
being  opposed  to  the  change,  favored  it  as  the  best  method  of 
carrying  out  their  original  idea. 


17 

But  Mr.  Cook  and  those  who  remained  opposed!  to>  such  a 
change  were  still  powerful  enough  to  control  -a  large  part  of 
the  legislature,  and  were  particularly  strong  in  the  Assembly.. 
Although  not  strong  enough  to  defeat  the  bill,  they  succeededP 
in  inserting  a  clause  giving  the  People's  College  'another 
chance  to  retain  possession  of  the  fund.  It  had  been  esti- 
mated by  the  Eegents  that  $186,500  would  be  the  sum  which 
would  be  sufficient  to  insure  compliance  with  the  requirements- 
of  the  law  making  the  appropriation  to  the  college.  Accord- 
ingly a  clause  was  inserted  in  the  charter  of  the  new  univer- 
sity, providing  that  if  the  trustees  of  the  People's  College 
should  deposit  the  sum  of  $185,000  within  three  months,  then 
that  college  should  retain  the  whole  of  the  grant.  From  one 
point  of  view  this  action  cannot  be  regarded  as  giving  more 
than  a  fair  chance  to  the  old  institution. 

Far  more  unjust  was  the  demand  of  Genesee  College  of 
Lima,  a  small  denominational  college  which  was  afterward 
transferred  to  Syracuse  and  absorbed  by  Syracuse  University. 
This  institution  insisted  that  it  was  entitled  to  a  share  in  the 
land  grant  fund  and  demanded  that  $25,000  of  that  fund 
should  be  paid  to  it.  Advocates  of  the  new  university  opposed 
this  on  the  ground  that  if  Genesee  College  were  given  a  part,  a 
precedent  would  be  established,  the  other  denominational  col- 
leges would  demand  and  secure  parts  of  the  fund,  the  whole 
fund  would  be  broken  up  into  a  number  of  small  portions,  and 
the  entire  purpose  of  the  act,  which  was  to  keep  the  fund 
intact,  would  be  defeated.  The  friends  of  the  Genesee  Col- 
lege then  demanded,  as  the  alternative,  that  Mr.  Cornell 
should  agree  to  pay  that  institution  $25,000  out  of  his  own 
money. 

Mr.  Cornell  absolutely  refused  to  resort  to  any  such  ex- 
pedient of  buying  off  his  opponents,  and  insisted  that  he 
would  agree  to  no  conditions  which  were  not  in  the  bill  itself. 
The  representatives  of  the  People's  College  were  undaunted 
and  were  strong  enough  to  succeed  in  inserting  into  the  bill 


18 

a  clause  that  Mr.  Cornell  must  pay  to  their  college  the  sum 
of  $25,000,  to  establish  a  professorship  of  agricultural 
chemistry,  before  being  allowed  to  give  $500,000  to  the  new 
university,  and  thus  securing  to  it  the  proceeds  of  the  grant. 
Mr.  Cornell  was  compelled  to  submit  to  this  extortion.  To  the 
credit  of  the  legislature,  it  should  be  said,  that  they  later 
offered  to  repay  the  money  to  Mr.  Cornell,  and  upon  his  re- 
fusal to  accept  it,  voted  the  sum  to  Cornell  University  on 
Mar.  28,  1867. 

Opposition  in  the  Assembly  was  much  stronger  than  in  the 
Senate.  The  opponents  of  the  measure  did  not  confine  their 
attention  to  merely  asserting  their  own  claims,  but  loudly  at- 
tacked the  motives  and  character  of  Mr.  Cornell.  Especially 
was  this  true  in  a  hearing  before  the  Assembly  committee  to 
which  the  bill  had  been  referred,  in  which  a  lawyer,  who  had 
been  hired  by  Mr.  Cook,  denounced  Mr.  Cornell  as  "seeking  to 
erect  a  monument  to  himself"  and  "planning  to  rob  the 
state."  The  committee  itself  refused  to  report  the  bill  and 
a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  House  was  required  to  take  it  from 
the  committee.  Hard  work  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  the 
measure  in  the  legislature,  together  with  the  support  of  the 
most  influential  of  the  New  York  editors,  such  as  Horace 
Oreeley  of  the  Tribune,  Erastus  Brooks  of  the  Express,  and 
Manton  Marble  of  the  World,  finally  forced  the  bill  through 
the  Assembly.  The  fight  in  the  Senate,  although  determined, 
was  not  as  severe,  and  the  act  passed  both  houses  and  was 
signed  by  the  governor,  becoming  a  law  on  April  27,  1865. 

This  act  was  known  as  "An  Act  to  establish  the  Cornell 
University,  and  to  appropriate  to  it  the  income  of  the  sale 
of  public  lands  granted  to  this  State  by  Congress,  on  the 
second  day  of  July,  1862;  also  to  restrain  the  operation  of 
chapter  511  of  laws  of  1863."  The  object  of  the  university  is 
-stated  in  practically  the  same  terms  as  in  the  Land  Grant  Act 
•of  1862,  namely,  to  provide  instruction  in  agriculture  and  the 
mechanic  arts,  not  excluding  classical  studies,  and  including 
jnilitary  tactics,  "in  order  to  promote  the  liberal  and  prac- 


19 

tical  education  of  the  industrial  classes  in  the  several  pur- 
suits and  professions  in  life."  Such  other  branches  of  knowl- 
edge were  to  be  taught  as  were  determined  by  the  trustees. 
Many  details  of  the  organization  of  the  University  were  also 
laid  down. 

The  entire  income  from  the  investment  of  the  proceeds  of 
the  sale  of  land  scrip  was  appropriated  to  the  trustees  of  Cor- 
nell University,  to  be  used  by  them  as  provided  in  the  act  of 
Congress.  Before  any  payment  was  to  be  made,  however,  the 
trustees  must  satisfy  the  Comptroller  that  $500,000  had  been 
given  to  the  University  by  Ezra  Cornell.  There  were  also 
the  provisions,  already  referred  to,  that  Mr.  Cornell  must 
pay  $25,000  to  Gienesee  College  within  six  months;  and  that 
the  People's  College  was  to  have  three  months  within  which 
to  deposit  the  required  sum  and  so  reserve  the  grant  for  them- 
selves. To  become  finally  and  absolutely  entitled  to  the 
money  Cornell  University  must  meet  tne  requirements  of  the 
act  within  two  years. 

Even  after  the  bill  had  been  passed,  there  still  remained 
the  danger  that  the  People's  College  would  deposit  the  re- 
quired $185,000  within  the  specified  three  months  and  thus 
retain  possession  of  the  fund.  That  institution,  however, 
was  apparently  unable  to  raise  the  money,  and  on  Aug.  28, 
1865  the  Secretary  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New 
York  certified  that  no  such  deposit  had  been  made.  The 
conditions  of  the  appropriation  of  the  land  grant  had  already 
been  accepted  by  the  Trustees  of  Cornell  University,  at  their 
first  meeting,  held  in  Albany  on  April  28,  1865.  A  certificate 
by  the  Treasurer  of  Cornell  University  of  the  receipt  of 
$500,000  from  Ezra  Cornell  on  Oct.  21,  1865,  and  a  similar 
certificate  that  the  $25,000  had  been  paid  to  Genesee  College, 
showed  that  the  requirements  laid  down  in  the  charter  had 
been  complied  with,  and  that  Cornell  University  had  become 
entitled  to  the  proceeds  from  the  land  grant  fund. 


20 

STATE  MANAGEMENT  OF  SCEIP  UP  TO  PUECHASE 
BY  ME.  COENELL. 

Eeckoning  upon  the  basis  of  30,000  acres  of  land  for  each 
Senator  and  Eepresentative  in  Congress  to  which  the  state 
was  entitled  under  .the  census  of  1860,  New  York  should  have 
received  990,000  acres  as  her  share  of  the  Land  Grant  Act 
of  1862.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  amount  which  New  York 
State  actually  received  was  989,920  acres,  in  6,187  pieces  of 
160  acres  each,  the  loss  of  80  acres  being  due  to  the  fact 
that  no  piece  was  issued  by  the  government  for  less  than  160 
acres.  The  total  number  of  acres  given  to  all  the  states  by 
this  grant  was  9,597,840,  so  it  will  be  seen  that  New  York 
State  received  over  one-tenth  of  the  whole. 

New  York  State,  not  having  public  lands  within  her  own 
boundaries  which  could  be  granted  to  her,  received,  in-  their 
place,  land  scrip  to  an  equal  amount.  Each  certificate  of 
scrip  authorized  the  selection  of  160  acres  of  land  from 
unappropriated  public  lands  of  the  United  States.  By 
the  terms  of  the  Land  Grant  Act,  no  state  was  allowed  to 
locate  lands  within  the  limits  of  any  other  state,  although  a 
private  person  might  do  so.  Hence  states  which  had  no 
public  lands  within  their  boundaries  could  locate  no  lands  at 
all;  their  only  means  of  realizing  upon  the  grant  was  to  sell 
the  scrip. 

Nearly  all  of  the  eastern  states  were  thus  situated,  and 
as  most  of  them  desired  to  realize  upon  the  land  grant 
immediately,  the  consequence  was  that  the  scrip  was  sold  in 
large  quantities  to  speculators,  the  market  became  flooded, 
and  its  value  rapidly  declined.  The  nominal  price  of  the 
scrip,  at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  act,  was  $1.25  an 
acre,  but  under  such  conditions  its  value  decreased  until 
its  market  price  was  soon  only  60  cents  an  acre  and  in  many 
cases  sales  were  made  for  even  less  than  that  amount. 


. 

or  THF 


New  York  State  received  its  scrip  some  time  during  the 
year  1863.  The  next  year  the  Comptroller,  under  directions 
from  the  legislature,  advertised  the  scrip  for  sale  at  85  cents 
per  acre.  In  a  few  months  475  pieces,  'amounting  to  76,000 
acres,  had  been  sold  -at  this  price,  "except  that  upon  the  first 
parcel  of  fifty  pieces  sold  -a  rebate  of  two  cents  was  allowed, 
in  consideration  of  certain  advantages  offered  in  the  matter 
of  advertising  in  the  Northwestern  States/'  Thus  8,000  acres 
were  sold  at  83  cents  and  68,000  acres  at  85  cents,  the  whole 
sum  amounting  to  $64,440,  which  was  immediately  put  on 
deposit  at  3  per  cent,  interest. 

But  these  sales  soon  entirely  ceased,  in  consequence  of 
other  states  having  reduced  their  price  to  a  much  lower 
rate.  As  the  Comptroller  says  in  his  report  for  1865,  "It 
therefore,  becomes  an  important  question  whether  the  price 
should  also  be  reduced  here  and  sacrifices  made  to  insure 
sales,  or  the  land  be  held  as  the  best  security  for  the  fund 
until  the  sales  can  be  made  at  fair  rates."  Under  one  alterna- 
tive, only  a  comparatively  small  sum  would  be  received  from 
the  lands ;  under  the  other  alternative  nothing  at  all  would  be 
realized  for  some  years.  A  consideration  which  may  have 
had  some  weight  in  determining  the  proper  course  to  pursue 
was  that  an  even  greater  sacrifice  would  have  been  involved 
if  New  York  State  had  thrown  its  one-tenth  upon  the  already 
overcrowded  market.  Apparently  nothing  of  the  sort  was 
done,  for  no  sales  at  all  were  made  during  the  year  ending 
September  30,  1865. 

In  the  meantime  Cornell  University  had  been  chartered 
and  Mr.  Cornell  began  to  consider  the  ways  in  which  the 
largest  possible  amount  might  be  realized  from  the  grant, 
devoting  considerable  time  during  the  summer  to  the  discus- 
sion of  the  problem.  It  soon  became  apparent  to  him  that 
the  lands  would  increase  greatly  in  value  if  they  could  be 
held  until  the  scrip  then  upon  the  market  had  been  dispose! 
of;  and  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  best  solution  of 


22 

the  difficulty  would  be  for  him  to  purchase  it  himself, 
locate  it,  sell  the  located  lands,  and  devote  the  entire  proceed? 
to  Cornell  University.  Although  the  state  itself  ould  not 
locate  lands,  there  was,  of  course,  no  objection  to  a  private 
individual  doing  so.  In  this  way  the  University  would  re- 
ceive some  immediate  returns  from  the  lands  without  losing 
the  prospect  of  ultimately  realizing  a  much  larger  profit. 

Acting  upon  this  principle,  Mr.  Cornell  purchased  on 
November  24,  1865,  100,000  acres  of  scrip  for  $50,000.  The 
market  price  of  the  scrip  at  that  time  was  60  cents  'an  acre, 
but  it  was  felt  that  this  reduction  was  no  more  than  fair  on 
account  of  the  obligations  which  Mr.  Cornell  was  taking  upon 
himself  for  the  benefit  of  the  University.  He  was  required 
to  give  a  bond,  properly  secured,  that  all  the  profits  which 
should  be  derived  front  the  transaction  would  be  'given  to 
Cornell  University. 

.  This  purchase  was  merely  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Cornell's 
policy.  On  April  10,  1866,  the  state  legislature  passed  "An 
Act  to  authorize  and  facilitate  the  early  disposition  by  the 
comptroller  of  the  lands  or  land  scrip  donated  to  this  state  by 
the  United  States."  The  comptroller  was  authorized  to  sell 
scrip  at  not  less  than  30  cents  an  acre  to  the  trustees  of 
Cornell  University,  or,  in  case  they  did  not  purchase,  to  any- 
one who  would  comply  with  the  required  conditions.  These 
conditions  were  that  proper  security  must  be  given  that  the 
whole  net  profits  from  the  sale  of  the  lands  should  be  paid 
to  Cornell  University,  and  that  annual  reports  should  be  made 
to  the  comptroller. 

Since  the  trustees  of  the  University  were  not  in  a  position 
to  make  the  purchase,  an  agreement  was  entered  into  be- 
tween the  Commissioners  of  the  Land  Office  and  Ezra 
Cornell  on  August  4,  1866,  whereby  Mr.  Cornell  was  to 
take  the  remaining  5,087  certificates .  of  160  acres  each  at 
30  cents  an  acre  and  comply  with  the  requirements  of  the 


23 

contract.  The  full  amount  of  the  purchase  price  was  to 
be  paid  in  money,  or  safe  bonds  and  stocks  at  not  less  than 
5  per  cent.  In  addition,  stocks  and  bonds  to  the  amount 
of  a  second  30  cents  per  acre  must  be  deposited  as  securities 
for  carrying  out  the  terms  of  the  contract.  The  interests 
of  the  state  were  further  safeguarded  by  requiring  that 
complete  information  regarding  the  location  and  sale  of 
the  lands  must  be  given  by  Mr.  Cornell  to  the  Board  of 
Commissioners  of  the  Land  Office.  Within  sixty  days  of 
the  loca'tion  of  a  piece  of  land  the  Board  of  Commissioners 
was  to  fix  the  minimum  price  at  which  each  quarter  sec- 
tion might  be  sold;  thus  no  land  could  be  disposed  of  at  a 
lower  price  than  was  fixed  by  the  state.  The  whole  of  the 
net  profits,  which  were  to  be  ascertained  by  deducting  the 
original  cost  of  30  cents  per  acre  and  the  expenses  of  loca- 
tion and  sale  from  the  gross  receipts,  were  to  be  paid  into 
the  Treasury  of  the  State. 

All  of  these  profits  were  to  be  applied  to  the  use  of  Cornell 
University,  but  the  money  was  to  be  divided  into  two  funds. 
A  part  of  the  net  profits  equal  to  30  cents  per  acre  was  to  be 
added  to  the  fund  which  had  already  been  started,  composed 
of  the  proceeds  of  sales  of  land  already  made  and  known  as 
the  "College  Land  Scrip  Fund/'  This  fund  represented  the 
money  actually  received  by  the  State  from  its  sale  of  the 
scrip.  The  purpose  of  having  an  additional  30  cents  per 
acre  paid  into  this  fund  was  in  order  to  make  the  amount 
received  for  the  scrip  which  had  been  sold  to  Ezra  Cornell  for 
30  cents  an  acre,  equal  the  market  value  of  the  scrip  at  the 
time  of  sale,  which  was  60  cents  an  acre.  Thus  the  "College 
Land  Scrip  Fund"  represented  the  amount  which  would  have 
been  realized  if  the  scrip  had  been  sold  by  the  State  at  its 
market  price.  In  other  words,  it  represented  the  proceeds 
derived  from  the  sale  of  the  scrip,  under  the  management  of 
the  state. 


24 

The  remainder  of  -the  receipts  from  the  sale  of  these 
lands  was  to  constitute  -a  separate  fund,  known  as  the  "Cor- 
nell Endowment  Fund."  This  fund  represented  the  profits 
over  and  above  the  60  cents  an  acre  realized  by  the  State, 
and  was  understood  to  be  a  gift  to  the  University  from  Ezra 
Cornell,  at  being  the  amount  which  his  management  had 
added  to  the  original  selling  price  of  the  scrip.  The  size 
of  this  fund  would,  of  course,  depend  'altogether  upon  Mr. 
Cornell's  skill  <in  managing  the  lands  and  not,  in  any  way, 
upon  the  State.  It  was  to  be  kept  entirely  distinct  from  the 
other  fund,  although  the  State  was  ,to  have  charge  of  the 
principal  and  was  to  appropriate  the  income  annually  to  the 
University,  as  in  the  case  of  the  other  fund. 

The  difference  between  the  two  funds  was  stated  to  be 
that  no  portion  of  the  College  Land  Scrip  Fund  could  be  used 
for  the  purchase,  erection  or  maintenance  of  buildings,  while 
the  Cornell  Endowment  Fund  could  be  used  in  any  way  the 
trustees  desired.  The  exact  status  of  the  latter  fund  became 
a  matter  of  great  importance  later  in  connection  with  the 
Fiske  suit. 

In  his  agreement  Mr.  Cornell  bound  himself  to  purchase 
the  whole  of  the  remaining  scrip,  to  locate  the  lands  within 
four  years,  and  to  sell  all  the  lands  within  twenty  years. 
Whenever  Mr.  Cornell  located  a  piece  of  land  he  was  required 
to  immediately  execute  a  mortgage  upon  it  to  the  State  of 
New  York,  as  security  that  he  would  live  up  to  his  agreement. 

The  agreement  of  August  4,  1866,  was  modified  somewhat 
by  the  Commissioners  of  the  Land  Office  on  September  18, 
1866,  by  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolution:  Eesolved, 
Tlhat  in  order  to  facilitate  the  location  of  the  Land  Scrip  con- 
tracted to  be  sold  to  Hon.  Ezra  Cornell,  the  Comptroller  is 

authorized  to  receive  an  assignment  of  land  certificates 

to  the  extent  of  100,000  acres,  to  be  held  temporarily  in  lieu 
of  a  mortgage  thereon,  and  as  and  for  a  mortgage,  until 


25 

patents  can  be  obtained  therefor,  and  the  same  may  be  mort- 
gaged by  said  Cornell,  as  provided  by  his  'agreement.  On 
May  15,  1867,  this  modification  was  extended  to  cover  another 
100,000  acres,  but,  with  these  exceptions,  the  management 
of  the  lands  was  conducted  by  Mr.  Cornell  as  provided  in 
the  terms  of  the  agreement  of  August  4,  1866. 

In  a  letter  written  to  the  Comptroller  a  couple  of  months 
prior  to  the  agreement  (June  9,  1866)  Mr.  Cornell  gave  an 
interesting  estimate  of  what  the  total  endowment  of  the  Uni- 
versity should  'amount  to.  Comparison  with  the  amount 
finally  realized  by  New  York  State  from  its  share  of  the  scrip 
will  show  how  conservative  were  Mr.  Cornell's  predictions. 
His  estimate  is  as  follows: 

First. 
The  amount  in  the  treasury  of  the  State  from 

former  sales   is $114,000 

The  amount  to  'be  realized  from  the  sale  of 

800,000  acres  of  .scrip  at  30  cents  per  acre..  240,000 
The  amount  of  profits  equal  to  30  cents  per  acre 

on  800,000  acres,,  to  bring  the  College  'Land 

'Scrip  Fund  up  to  the  market  value  of  the 

scrip     240,000 


Total    amount   of    College    Land   iScrip 

Fund    $594,000 

Second. 

A  fund  to  be  realized  from  the  (balance  of 
profits  -wihidh  are  expected  to  arise  from  the 
sale  of  lands  located  with  the  800,000  acres 
of  scrip,  after  paying  the  above  30  cents  per 
acre,  estimated  to  foe  two  dollars  per  acre. . .  1,600,000 

Third. 

The  fund  donated  by  Ezra  Cornell  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  the  act  of  the  Legislature, 

Chap.  585,  laws  of  1865 500,000 

The  amount  of  profits  in  100,000  acres  of  land 

already  .entered    ($2.50  per   acre) 250,000 

,         750,000 

Total    endowment. $2,944,000 


26 

Previous  to  the  agreement  of  August  4,  1866,  1,100  pieces 
out  of  .the  total  grant  of  6,187  pieces  of  scrip  had  been  dis- 
posed of;  475  pieces  had  been  sold  to  parties  other  than  Mr. 
Cornell  before  he  had  formulated  his  plans;  while  625  pieces 
had  been  purchased  by  Mr.  Cornell  under  a  former  arrange- 
ment. By  this  agreement  Mr.  Cornell  purchased  the  remain- 
ing 5,087  pieces.  Thus  in  all  Mr.  Cornell  purchased  5,712 
out  of  the  6,187  pieces  which  the  State  received  under  the 
land  grant,  or  913,920  out  of  the  989,920  acres. 

MANAGEMENT    OF    SCEIP    AND    LANDS    BY    ME. 
COENELL. 

Mr.  Cornell's  first  idea  had  been  that  the  trustees  of  the 
University  should  buy  the  New  York  land  scrip  with  the 
money  which  he  had  furnished  them  and  locate  the  lands  for 
the  University.  The  trustees,  however,  were  either  unwilling 
or  unable  to  do  so,  and  he  had  been  forced  to  proceed  with 
the  plan  himself. 

Eecords  show  that  from  the  time  of  the  agreement  of 
August,  1866,  up  to  the  end  of  the  year  1867,  Mr.  Cornell 
had  received  from  the  Comptroller  2,700  pieces  of  scrip, 
amounting  to  432,000  acres.  Previous  to  this  time  he  had 
purchased  625  pieces,  representing  100,000  acres.  Thus 
scrip  to  the  amount  of  532,000  acres  had  been  purchased  by 
him  from  the  Comptroller.  6,080  acres  were  sold  in  the 
form  of  scrip  by  the  western  agent;  most  of  the  remainder 
was  located  by  Mr.  Cornell  and  his  agents  within  a  short 
time,  3,974.93  acres  being  located  in  Kansas,  7,968.27  acres 
in  Minnesota,  and  the  remainder  in  Wisconsin.  Of  the  large 
part  located  in  Wisconsin,  400,000  acres  were  timber  lands, 
the  rest  were  farming  lands.  All  of  these  lands  were  care- 
fully examined  by  agents  before  being  selected,  with  a  view 
to  obtaining  only  the  best.  This  involved  an  enormous  ex- 
pense, and  when  Mr.  Cornell  transferred  the  lands  to  the 


27 

University  in  1874  it  was  found  that  the  expense  which  he 
had  been  obliged  to  meet  exceeded  the  receipts  from  sales  by 
the  sum  of  $573,854.72. 

During  the  first  part  of  the  year  1.867  the  trustees  of  the 
University  began  to  be  desirous  of  immediately  realizing  some 
profits  from  the  lands,  and  it  was  'also  -advisable  that  measures 
should  be  taken  to  relieve  Mr.  Cornell  from  the  financial 
strain  involved  in  continually  meeting  the  expenses  of  loca- 
tion and  management.  But  a  sale  of  the  scrip,  or.  even  a 
sale  of  the  located  lands,  would  bring  but  a  comparatively 
small  amount  of  money  and  would  involve  a  tremendous 
sacrifice,  since  only  a  small  part  of  the  land  grant  scrip  had 
been  sold  and  each  State  was  desirous  of  disposing  of  its 
share.  Scrip  was  being  quoted  at  an  extremely  low  rate,  and 
hardly  any  sales  were  reported. 

It  was  estimated  that  if  the  New  York  scrip  were  put  on  the 
market  at  this  time  it  would  hardly  be  likely  to  bring  more 
than  25  cents  an  acre.  To  obtain  any  reasonable  profit  at  all, 
the  lands  must  be  located  and  held  for  a  rise  in  price.  At  this 
point  Mr.  Cornell  conceived  the  idea  of  realizing  a  larger 
immediate  profit  by  means  of  the  organization  of  the  "New 
York  Lumber,  Manufacturing  and  Improvement  Company." 

This  company  was  incorporated  on  April  23,  1867,  in  the 
name  of  Ezra  Cornell,  Hiram  Sible}7,  Theodore  S.  Faxon, 
Charles  F.  Wells  and  William  A.  Woodward.  Its  object  is 
stated  to  be  "the  purchase,  improvement  and  sale  of  timber 
and  other  lands,  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  lumber,  the 
improvement  of  a  town  site  and  water  power  and  the  sale, 
renting  and  leasing  thereof  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin."  One 
hundred  thousand  acres  of  land  were  to  be  sold  to  the  com- 
pany at  $5.00  an  acre.  This  $500,000  would  relieve  Mr. 
Cornell  from  the  necessity  of  furnishing  money  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  the  lands,  and  would  relieve  the  University 
of  the  embarrassment  arising  from  its  lack  of  funds,  as  well 
as  tend  to  assure  the  trustees  that  Mr.  Cornell's  plan  of  hold- 


28 

ing  the  rest  of  the  lands  was  advisable.  But  the  company 
also  had  another  purpose;  it  was  to  be  instrumental  in  build- 
ing up  and  developing  the  country,  thus  bringing  out  new 
settlers  and  increasing  the  value  of  the  lands  which  remained 
in  Mr.  Cornell's  possession. 

The  plans  of  the  company  called  for  the  establishment  of 
a  town  and  the  site  chosen  was  at  a  place  known  as  Brunette 
Falls,  on  the  Chippewa  Kiver,  about  thirty  miles  from  Eau 
Claire.  -It  was  here  that  the  village  of  Cornell  was  to  be 
established.  The  Prospectus  represents  it  as  in  the  center 
of  the  richest  pine  county  in  the  world,  and  as  having  un- 
excelled natural  advantages.  The  chief  profit  of  the  company 
was  to  be  derived  from  the  cutting  of  timber  and  its  sale, 
but  after  the  timber  had  been  cut  the  land  was  to  be  sold  for 
farming  purposes,  for  which  it  was  said  to  be  exceptionally 
well  adapted.  Profits  were  also  to  be  derived  from  the  manu- 
facture of  various  articles  from  wood,  and  from  the  increase 
in  value  of  the  lands  in  the  surrounding  country,  all  of  which 
were  to  be  owned  by  the  company. 

How  well  this  plan  would  have  worked  out  was  destined 
never  to  be  known,  for  the  company  never  came  into  an  active 
existence.  The  stock  of  the  company  was  to  be  $600,000, 
composed  of  shares  of  $100  each.  Mr.  Cornell  at  first  sub- 
scribed $25,000,  and  later  $50,000,  but,  although  he  made 
earnest  efforts  to  enlist  his  friends  in  the  enterprise,  he  was 
unable  to  get  the  stock  taken  up,  and  was  forced  to  abandon 
the  whole  scheme. 

About  4,000  acres  of  the  land  included  in  Mr.  Cornell's 
plan  for  a  town  site,  together  with  small  water  power  at 
Brunette  Falls,  were  withheld  from  sale  until  about  three 
years  ago,  when  they  were  sold  for  $55,000,  all  of  the  timber 
from  these  lands  having  been  previously  sold.  The  pur- 
chasers of  this  land  and  water  power  have  established  a  town 
site  at  this  point  and  named  it  Cornell,  00  that  Mr.  Cornell's 
scheme  in  this  regard  bids  fair  to  be  in  part  realized. 


29 

It  is  probable  that  if  Mr.  Cornell  could  have  had  his 
own  way  in  the  matter  no  more  lands  would  have  been  sold 
at  that  time  than  was  absolutely  necessary  to  enable  the  re- 
mainder to  be  properly  managed.  The  trustees  of  the  Uni- 
versity, however,  became  impatient  to  have  the  use  of  the 
money.  Only  about  200,000  acres  had  been  located  when 
they  began  to  urge  him  not  to  locate  any  more  lands,  but, 
instead,  to  sell  the  scrip  so  that  the  University  might  have 
the  immediate  use  of  the  funds.  Notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  these  appeals  became  more  and  more  numerous,  Mr. 
Cornell  continued  to  locate  lands,  and  during  the  summer 
and  fall  of  1867  selected  232,000  acres  more.  The  trustees, 
however,  became  more  and  more  impatient,  and  finally,  on 
December  1,  1867,  drew  up  a  recommendation  to  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  Land  OfBce  that  Mr.  Cornell's  agreement 
be  modified  so  as  to  allow  him  to  sell  the  remaining  2,387 
pieces  of  land  scrip  at  not  less  than  75  cents  an  acre. 

Several  reasons  were  assigned  why  such  a  policy  would  be  for 
the  best  interests  of  the  University.  In  the  first  place,  over  half 
a  million  acres  had  already  been  located  and  this  would  fur- 
nish a  large  sum  when  it  was  sold  later.  It  was  also  said 
that  the  full  amount  of  college  land  scrip  which  could  be 
located  in  Wisconsin,  Michigan  and  Minnesota,  had  already 
been  taken  up,  consequently  any  further  locations  of  land 
would  have  to  be  made  in  States  further  west  or  southwest. 
This,  the  trustees  believed,  "would  so  divide  any  organization 
for  the  further  sale  of  the  lands  as  to  affect  its  efficiency,  and 
perhaps  result  in  our  not  realizing  any  more  money  from 
the  larger  quantity  of  lands  thus  scattered  than  we  should 
for  what  is  already  located,  if  our  efforts  vere  concentrated 
for  its  sale."  And,  finally,  "the  University  will  be  opened 
in  September,  1868,  upon  a  scale  that  will  require  larger  ex- 
penditures than  our  present  resources  will  supply,  'and  it  is 
therefore  desirable  to  strengthen  our  funds  as  early  as  we  can, 
"having  due  regard  for  the  value  of  the  scrip."  As  the  scrip 
had  been  selling  for  two  years  at  from  fifty  to  sixty  cents 


30 

per  acre,  the  trustees  believed  that  its  sale  at  75  cents  an  acre 
would  not  involve  too  much  sacrifice.  The  Commissioners 
of  the  Land  Office  evidently  considered  these  reasons  of 
weight,  for  they  modified  the  agreement  accordingly  upon 
December  18,  1867. 

Mr.  Cornell  apparently  felt  bound  by  these  instructions, 
for  he  immediately  began  looking  around  to  find  a  purchaser 
for  the  remaining  scrip.  The  principal  dealer  in  college  land 
scrip  at  this  time  was  Mr.  G-.  •  F.  Lewis  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
Mr.  Cornell  endeavored  to  sell  him  scrip  at  $1.00  an  acre,  but 
found  this  impossible  because  Mr.  Lewis  himself  had  scrip 
for  sale  at  60  cents  'an  acre.  Mr.  Cornell  then  proposed  a 
plan  whereby  he  should  cooperate  with  Mr.  Lewis  in  con- 
trolling what  scrip  there  was  left  on  the  market  and  concen- 
trating it  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Lewis,  who  was  to  deal  it  out 
to  customers  no  faster  than  it  was  wanted  for  location.  If 
this  could  be  done  Mr.  Lewis  could  easily  dispose  of  it  at 
$1.15  an  acre,  since  the  government  price  was  $1.25,  and  un- 
der such  circumstances  he  could  afford  to  pay  Mr.  Cornell 
$1.00  per  acre  for  the  remaining  New  York  State  scrip. 
As  Mr.  Lewis  had  bought  a  large  part  of  his  scrip  for  about 
fifty  cents  an  acre,  he  would  make  a  large  profit  out  of  the 
transaction,  and  was  entirely  willing  to  consent  to  such  an 
arrangement.  Mr.  Cornell  immediately  set  to  work,  wrote 
to  the  Governors  of  the  States  which  had  not  already  sold 
their  scrip,  explained  his  dealings  in  the  matter,  and  asked 
for  their  cooperation.  In  several  of  these  cases  he  was  suc- 
cessful. 

Having  performed  his  part  of  the  agreement,  Mr.  Cornell 
proceeded  to  dispose  of  the  remaining  New  York  State  scrip 
to  Mr.  Lewis.  On  April  23,  1868,  he  sold  the  latter  625 
pieces,  or  100,000  acres,  at  90  cents  an  acre,  and  1,125  pieces 
or  180,000  acres  at  $1.00  an  acre,  receiving  in  all  the  sum  of 
$270,000  for  280,000  acres.  The  remainder  of  the  scrip  was 
reserved  for  some  people  in  California,  who  agreed  to  take  it 


31 

at  $1.00  an  acre.  These  people,  'however,  failed  to  live  up 
to  their  part  of  the  agreement  and  the  scrip  was  left  on  Mr. 
Cornell's  hands.  In  the  meantime  Congress  had  passed  a 
law  restricting  the  quantity  of  scrip  which  could  he  located 
in  any  one  township  to  not  more  than  three  sections.  The 
effect  of  this  restriction  was  to  lower  the  price  of  the  scrip, 
and  the  consequence  was  that  when  Mr.  Cornell  finally  sold 
the  remaining  637  pieces,  or  101,920  acres,  to  Mr.  Lewis  on 
December  15,  1869,  <he  was  able  to  obtain  only  86  cents  an 
acre. 

The  entire  transaction,  however,  was  highly  satisfac- 
tory. The  2,387  pieces  of  scrip,  representing  381,920  acres, 
had  been  sold  for  $357,651.20,  -an  average  price  of  93  2-3 
cents  per  acre,  or  18  2-3  cents  per  acre  higher  than  had  been 
required  by  the  Commissioners.  This  was  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  at  the  time  the  authorization  was  made,  the 
market  price  of  the  scrip  was  only  sixty  cents  an  acre. 

The  trustees  of  the  University  were  apparently  not  sat- 
isfied with  the  money  realized  from  the  sale  of  the  scrip  to 
Mr.  Lewis  and  continued  to  urge  Mr.  Cornell  to  sell  the 
remainder  of  the  land,  so  that  the  University  might  at  once 
take  advantage  of  the  whole  of  the  endowment.  Mr.  Cornell, 
however,  adhered  to  his  plan  of  holding  the  lands  for  a  rise 
in  value  rather  than  selling  them  at  a  sacrifice.  Subsequent 
events  have  justified  Mr.  Cornell's  course  and  proved  the 
value  of  his  management. 

At  the  time,  however,  there  were  strong  reasons  why  the 
opposite  plan  seemed  best  to  many  of  the  friends  of  the 
University.  The  president  and  trustees  had  constantly 
forced  upon  their  attention  the  pressing  needs  of  the  insti- 
tution, and  a  keen  realization  of  the  dangers  which  a  lack 
of  funds  involved.  To  their  minds  it  seemed  desirable  and 
ever  necessary  to  continue  building  up  the  University,  even 
faster  than  the  income  permitted;  it  seemed  far  more  im- 


32 

portant  to  get  a  good  start  than  to  receive  a  large  endow- 
ment a  number  of  years  later.  So  keenly  was  this  felt  that 
they  were  willing  and  desirous  to  sacrifice  the  scrip  in  order 
to  attain  this  end.  Mr.  Cornell,  on  the  other  hand,  was  not 
brought  into  such  intimate  contact  with  the  immediate  needs 
of  the  University;  his  work  enabled  him  to  see  rather  the 
splendid  prospects  for  an  immense  future  endowment.  The 
trustees  had  in  mind  the  present  needs  of  the  institution; 
Mr.  Cornell  its  future  prospects.  Under  such  circumstances 
it  was  entirely  natural  that  their  opinions  should  differ  as 
to  the  proper  course  to  pursue. 

The  demands  of  the  University,  as  well  as  the  continued 
expense  of  managing  the  lands,  made  it  desirable  that  some 
sales  should  be  made,  if  at  could  be  done  without  too  much 
sacrifice.  Another  principle  was  involved.  The  future  values 
of  the  lands  would  undoubtedly  be  much  higher  than  they 
were  at  that  time,  but  there  was  no  prospect  that  the  lands 
could  be  sold  at  any  reasonable  price  for  many  years  unless 
something  were  done  in  the  meantime  to  bring  up  their  value. 
The  reason  was  that  between  these  lands  and  the  market  lay 
a  large  tract  of  equally  desirable  land,  which  would  be  suffi- 
cient to  meet  the  demand  for  timber  for  some  time  to  come. 
To  obtain  any  market  at  all  for  the  Cornell  lands  the  latter 
rnust  be  opened  up  and  made  more  accessible.  This  could  only 
be  done  by  selling  a  portion  of  the  lands  themselves. 

The  question  then  arose  as  to  whether  it  would  be  better 
to  sell  a  large  tract  of  land  at  lower  prices  or  to  sell  picked 
lands  at  higher  prices.  Upon  this  point  there  was  a  differ- 
ence of  opinion  between  Mr.  Cornell  and  his  agent,  Mr. 
Woodward.  The  latter  believed  that  it  would  be  advisable 
to  sell  the  lands  at  retail  at  a  higher  price,  allowing  the 
purchasers  to  select  the  most  desirable  lands,  rather  than  to 
sell  a  large  area  at  a  lower  price.  Mr.  Cornell,  on  the  other 
hand,  believed  there  would  be  more  profit  in  selling  a  large 
tract  of  100,000  acres  for  $5.00,  'or  even  $4.00  an  acre,  than 


88 

in  allowing  selections  to  be  made  at  $6.25.  His  ifa  evi- 
dently was  that  these  selections  would  take  up  all  the  desir- 
able lands  and  that  he  would  be  left  with  worthless  tracts  inv 
his  possession  which  could  not  be  disposed  of  at  any  price 
and  would  thus  involve  a  direct  loss.  By  selling  only  ihi 
large  quantities  the  poor  lands  would  be  sold  with  the  good! 
and  this  loss  would  be  avoided. 

Mr.  Cornell  was  unwilling  to  make  sales  at  low  prices,  even* 
in  large  amounts,  but  finally  yielded  to  the  insistence  of  the 
trustees,  and  offered  the  land  to  <a  number  of  wealthy  men, 
both  in  this  and  in  other  States.  No  sales  were  made,  how- 
ever, until  Mr.  Cornell  induced  Mr.  McGraw  and  Mr.  Sage 
to  purchase  a  part  of  the  land.  These  purchases  were  made 
more  to  help  the  University  in  a  time  of  need  than  for  any 
profit  which  could  be  seen  in  the  transaction,  both  Mr. 
McGraw  and  Mr.  Sage  being  among  the  largest  early  bene- 
factors of  Cornell  University,  and  their  gifts  having  aggre- 
gated many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  Mr.  Sage 
finally  paid  over  to  the  University  his  share  of  the  profits 
which  were  realized  from  these  purchases. 

The  first  agreement  of  sale  was  made  with  John  McGraw 
and  Henry  W.  Sage  on  December  14,  1870,  and  called  for  the 
•sale  of  100,000  acres  of  white  pine  timber  land  at  $4.00  an 
acre.  By  the  terms  of  the  contract  Messrs.  Sage  and  McGraw 
were  to  decide  within  a  given  time  as  to  which  quarter  of 
the  Cornell  tract  they  would  select  their  lands  from ;  they 
were  then  to  take  all  the  lands  within  that  tract  which  had 
320,000  feet  of  merchantable  white  pine  timber  to  the  lot  of 
80  'acres.  Lots  of  80  acres  which  did  not  contain  the  required 
amount  of  timber  were  to  be  rejecteJ,  and  the  expense  of  their 
examination  paid  by  Mr.  Cornell.  A  gale  of  50,000  acres  of  land 
at  $4.00  an  acre  under  similar  conditions  of  selection  was 
made  to  John  McGraw,  Thomas  McGraw  and  Jeremiah  W. 
Dwight  on  the  same  day.  On  June  23,  1871,  another  sale  of 
100,000  acres  was  made  to  John  McGraw  'and  Henry  W. 


34 

Sage  on  the  same  terms,  except  that  the  price  to  be  paid  was 
to  be  $5.00  an  acre  instead  of  $4.00. 

In  making  these  agreements  Mr.  Cornell  believed  that 
every  lot  of  80  acres  upon  his  tract  would  contain  the  re- 
quired amount  of  white  pine  timber  and  that  there  would 
thus  be  no  selection,  this  belief  being  based  upon  information 
furnished  him  by  an  agent.  When  the  lands  were  examined 
by  Messrs.  Sage  and  McGraw,  however,  it  was  found  that 
only  about  one-half  of  the  land  would  come  up  to  this  stand- 
ard, and  that  a  large  part  of  this  half  would  be  worth  much 
more  than  the  specified  price.  This  would  amount  to  a  selec- 
tion of  the  best  lands  and  their  sale  at  only  $4.00  or  $5.00  an 
acre,  while  the  poorer  lands  would  remain  in  Mr.  Cornell's 
possession,  and  was  precisely  the  result  which  Mr.  Cornell 
was  trying  to  avoid. 

Negotiations  were  immediately  begun  to  cancel  the  con- 
tracts. Both  Mr.  McGraw  and  Mr.  Sage  were  willing  to 
agree  to  what  was  clearly  for  the  best  interests  of  the  Uni- 
versity, accordingly  on  November  27,  1872,  a  contract  was 
drawn  up  surrendering  the  two  previous  contracts  for  the 
purchase  of  100,000  acres  at  $4.00  and  100,000  acres  at 
$5.00  upon  the  return  of  the  purchase  money.  In  considera- 
tion of  their  generosity  a  new  contract  was  drawn  up,  pro- 
vioUng  that  50,000  acres  should  be  sold  them  at  $4.00  an 
acre,  to  be  selected  as  in  the  previous  agreement.  It  was  also 
provided  that  they  should  finish  their  examination  of  the 
entire  tract,  the  expenses  of  this  examination  to  be  met  by 
Mr.  Cornell.  Other  parties  were  interested  in  the  agreement 
of  December  14,  1870,  to  sell  50,000  acres  at  $4.00  an  acre 
and  were  unwilling  to  cancel  their  contracts.  Thus,  at  the 
'dose  of  the  arrangements,  two  sales  of  50,000  acres  each  at 
•$4.00  an  acre  had  been  made  on  terms  that  practically 
jallowed  the  purchasers  a  selection  of  the  lands. 


35 
ATTACKS  UPON  ME.  COBNELL. 

Throughout  Mr.  Cornell's  connections  with  the  manage- 
ment of  the  scrip  he  was  on  many  occasions  exposed  to  direct, 
personal  attacks,  both  upon  his  character  and  his  motives. 
The  most  important  of  these  attacks  was  an  editorial  which 
appeared  in  the  Eochester  "Daily  Union  and  Advertiser"  on 
October  26,  1867.  This  editorial  had  a  political  purpose, 
being  intended  to  influence  the  result  of  the  State  election, 
which  would  occur  in  a  few  days.  The  constitution  of  the 
State  had  been  revised  by  a  State  convention  which  met  for 
the  purpose  earlier  in  the  year,  and  the  adoption  of  the  re- 
vised constitution  was  to  be  voted  upon  at  the  November 
election.  In  it  had  been  inserted  a  new  provision  that  the 
capital  of  the  College  Land  Scrip  Fund  cand  the  capital  of  the 
Cornell  Endowment  Fund  were  to  be  "preserved  inviolate." 
It  was  this  section  which  brought  about  the  attack  upon  Mr. 
Cornell. 

The  Eochester  Daily  Union  and  Advertiser  saw  a  sinister 
purpose  behind  these  innocent-looking  provisions.  Accord- 
ing to  the  editorial  "these  amendments  are  intended  to  cover 
up  and  perpetuate  by  their  incorporation  into  the  organic  law 
one  of  the  most  stupendous  jobs  ever  'put  up'  against  the 
rights  of  the  agricultural  and  mechanical  population  of  the 
state.  The  funds  which  are  thus  sought  to  be  perpetuated 
to  the  Cornell  University,  belonging  rightfully  to  those 
classes  of  the  people,  and  have  been  wrested  from  them  and 
put  into  the  hands  and  management  of  Ezra  Cornell,  the 
founder  of  the  Cornell  University,  by  legislation  as  rotten 
as  the  worst  that  ever  disgraced  the  state."  Then  follows  a 
eocalled  "history"  of  the  transactions,  a  history  abounding  in 
misstatements,  in  which  every  action  is  misconstrued. 

The  general  scheme  of  the  article  seems  to  be  that  Mr.  Cor- 
nell, who  was  a  State  Senator  in  1865,  devised  a  plan  whereby 
he  was  to  secure  control  of  the  land  grant  scrip,  and  thus 


36 

derive  an  immense  profit  for  himself  and  his  family.  As  an 
excuse  or  pretext  for  securing  control  and  to  hide  his  real 
motives,  he  put  forward  his  grand  scheme  of  founding  a  great 
university.  The  other  colleges  saw  through  his  motives  and 
made  a  strong  fight  against  such  a  plan  but,  through  corrupt 
means,,  Mr.  Cornell  succeeded  in  silencing  their  opposition. 
"It  would  be  a  waste  of  time  and  space  to  go  into  all  the  arts 
and  means  used  to  get  this  bill  through.  It  is  sufficient  to 
state  that  no  appliance  commonly  used  to  push  ' jobs'  through 
the  Legislature  was  neglected." 

In  regard  to  the  opposition  of  Genesee  College  it  is  stated 
that,  although  Mr.  Cornell  made  a  proposition  to  buy  off  the 
college,  he  was  opposed  to  inserting  any  provision  to  that 
effect  in  the  charter,  desiring  instead  to  "put  it  off  with  a 
promise."  Distrust  on  the  part  of  the  trustees  of  Genesee 
College  forced  him  to  pay  the  money  on  the  spot,  but  "the 
next  winter,  he  being  still  a  Senator,  he  got  the  $25,000  he  paid 
to  Genesee  College  back  from  the  state  by  an  appropriation 
for  that  purpose.  Thus  the  people  were  forced  to  pay  the 
money  which  had  been  used -to  silence  opposition  to  the  wrest- 
ing of  their  million  acres  of  land  from  them." 

Mr.  Cornell's  management  of  the  land  grant  is  next  taken 
up.  The  purchase  of  800,000  acres  of  land  at  30  cents  an 
acre  and  the  'separation  of  the  two  funds  are  treated  in  such 
a  way  as  to  exhibit  Mr.  Cornell  in  the  worst  possible  light. 
Then  comes  the  crowning  feature  of  the  attack.  "Now,  it  is 
of  some  importance  just  here  to  know  what  Mr.  Cornell  has 
done  with  this  million  acres  of  land.  By  a  statement  in  a 
late  number  of  the  Ithaca  Journal,  Mr.  Cornell's  organ,  it 
appears  that  Mr.  Cornell  has  located  400,000  acres  upon  the 
choicest  pine  lands  belonging  to  the  government.  These 
400,000  acres  are  estimated  by  Mr.  Cornell's  organ  to  be 
worth  $60  per  acre,  or  $24,000,000.  One  hundred  (thou- 
sand) are  located  as  farming  lands,  valued  by  Mr.  Cornell 
at  $5.00  per  acre,  making  $500,000.  This  accounts  for  only 


37 

half  the  lands  and  yet  we  find  the  value  of  this  half  to  be 
$24,500,000 !  —  —Who  would  not  be  willing  to  found  a 
University  under  such  circumstances  ? 

"The  same  article  from  Mr.  Cornell's  organ,  in  alluding  to 
the  donation  of  $500,000  by  Mr.  Cornell  himself  to  the  Uni- 
versity, states  that  the  University  is  likely  to  get  two  millions 
of  dollars  out  of  these  lands.  That  is  enough,  in  all  con* 
science,  for  any  University — more  than  it  can  advantageously 
use  for  a  long  period,  if  ever.  But  what  becomes  of  the 
$23,000,000  and  over  of  the  balance  to  be  realized  out  of  these 
lands?  The  answer  is  plain.  It  belongs  and  will  go  to  the 
Cornell  family.  Already  Mr.  Cornell  has  been  to  the  Legis- 
lature to  secure  the  passage  of  an  act  incorporating  a  great 
land  company  of  which  he  is  chief.  To  the  company  he  will 
sell  these  lands,  fixing  his  own  price,  and  his  company  will 
make  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  millions  of  dollars.  It  can 
be  easily  seen  how  a  man  with  little  or  no  money  invested, 
with  such  an  enormous  land  fund  put  into  his  hands  to  man- 
age as  he  sees  fit,  can  afford  to  divert  public  attention  from 
his  real  object  by  turning  it  towards  a  great  institution  of 
learning  which  he  is  founding.  Mr.  Cornell's  own  munifi- 
cent gift  of  half  a  million  exists  only  on  paper.  It  has  not 
been  paid,  and  is  only  secured  to  the  State  by  a  pledge  of 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Stock.  Having  passed  his  bill 
and  secured  the  fruits  of  the  job,  it  required  vigilant  watch- 
ing to  keep  the  booty  secure.  Some  future  legislature  might 
investigate  the  transaction.  The  people  might  find  out  how 
they  had  been  plundered  and  attempt  a  recapture  of  some 
part  of  the  stolen  property.  All  this  would  be  unpleasant  to 
Mr.  Cornell,  so  he  hits  on  the  idea  of  perpetuating  the  job 
by  putting  it  in  the  new  Constitution."  The  motive  of  the 
whole  article  then  appears :  an  appeal  to  the  people  to  refuse 
to  adopt  the  new  Constitution,  and  to  defeat  Horace  G-reeley, 
a  trustee  of  the  University,  who  was  running  fo*r  Comptroller, 
an  office  through  which  most  of  the  land  grant  business  was 
transacted. 


38 

The  most  of  the  article  consisted  simply  in  deliberate  mis- 
statements  and  was  undoubtedly  inspired  by  a  political 
motive.  Its  main  point,  however,  had  its  foundation  in  an 
absurd  article  which  appeared  in  the  Ithaca  Journal  on  July 
27,  1869.  The  article  was  evidently  written  to  justify  Mr. 
Cornell's  management  of  the  land  but  it  contained  such 
exaggerated  statements  and  was  worded  in  such  a  way  as  to 
arouse  suspicion  in  even  an  impartial  reader.  A  few  ex- 
tracts will  show  the  source  of  the  Rochester  paper's  attack. 

"Now  a  word  as  to  the  present  value  of  the  timber  on  those 
lands  (i.  e.  the  400,000  acres  of  pine  lands  selected)  and  the 
reader  can  judge  for  himself  whether  or  not  Mr.  Cornell's 
action  in  the  premises  has  been  characterized  by  business 
judgment  and  sagacity. 

"The  quantity  of  timber  is  estimated  to  produce  at  least 
10,000  feet  of  boards  per  acre  as  an  average  of  the  whole 
tract,  and  this  is  believed  to  be  a  low  estimate.  The  market 
value  of  the  logs  during  the  last  three  years  has  exceeded  all 
cost  of  getting  them  to  market  by  the  amount  of  $6.00  per 
thousand.  This  fixes  a  value  for  the  timber  standing  on 
the  land  at  $60  per  acre,  which  multiplied  by  the  400,000 
acres  makes  the  enormous  sum  of  $24,000,000,  and  still 
100,000  acres  of  farm  lands  worth  $5.00  per  acre,  in  addition 
to  dispose  of." 

Then  follow  a  few  statements  as  to  Mr.  Cornell's  work  in 
advancing  the  price  of  the  scrip  and  the  amount  of  land  lo- 
cated and  finally  the  remark  that  "When  Mr.  Cornell  under- 
took this  enterprise  he  explained  it  fully  to  the  Trustees  of 
the  University  and  assured  them  that  he  could  make  a  profit 
of  two  millions  of  dollars  for  the  University — and  there  is 
little  doubt  but  his  expectations  will  be  more  than  realized." 

The  purpose  of  the  article  was  to  justify  Mr.  Cornell's 
management  of  the  scrip,  but  the  unfortunate  way  in 
which  reference  is  made  to  an  anticipated  profit  of 


39 

$24,000,000  and  the  prospect  that  the  University  would  re- 
ceive somewhat  over  $2,000,000  would  naturally  cause  even 
an  indifferent  reader  to  wonder  what  was  to  become  of  the 
rest  of  the  money.  The  fallacy,  of  course,  lies  in  the  state- 
ment that  the  lands  were  worth  $60  'an  acre.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  value  of  timber  lands  in  Wisconsin  in  1867-68 
was  from  $2.50  to  $4.00  per  acre. 

Shortly  afterwards  Mr.  Cornell  replied  to  the  attack  of  the 
Rochester  Union  and  Advertiser  in  a  letter  to  the  same  paper. 
In  remarkable  contrast  to  the  editorial,  Mr.  Cornelias  letter 
consisted  merely  in  a  dispassionate  account  of  the  proceedings 
which  had  taken  place  in  regard  to  the  land  grant,  but  it  ac- 
counted for  the  scrip  which  has  passed  through  Mr.  Cornell's 
hands,  and  effectively  disproved  the  charges  which  had  been 
ntade  against  him.  Almost  nothing  is  said  in  regard  to  the 
personal  charges  against  Mr.  Cornell's  character  and  motives 
except  in  the  final  paragraph  where  he  concludes :  "As  to  the 
other  charge  of  'swindling/  'corruption/  etc.,  etc.,  permit  me 
to  say  that  I  have  lived  in  this  State  from  my  birth — more 
than  sixty  years.  I  have  had  personal  relations  with  great 
numbers  of  my  fellow  citizens,  and  official  relations  with  all 
of  them.  To  their  judgment  on  you  and  me  I  leave  your 
epithets  of  'swindler'  and  'corruptionist.' '; 

The  culminating  attack  upon  Mr.  Cornell  came  several 
years  later.  Mr.  Cornell's  failing  health  led  him  to  desire 
to  close  up  his  own  'account  with  the  state  and  transfer  the 
lands  directly  to  the  University.  For  this  reason  a  bill  was 
introduced  into  the  lower  house  of  the  New  York  Legislature, 
on  May  13,  1873,  providing  for  a  settlement  between  Mr. 
Cornell  and  the  State.  Thereupon  the  representative  from 
the  district  in  which  the  People's  College  had  been  located 
took  occasion  to  make  a  bitter  personal  attack  upon  Mr. 
Cornell. 

The  charges  were  much  the  same  as  had  been  made  in 
the  Rochester  Union,  especial  reference  being  made  to  the 


40 

alleged  fact  that  white  pine  lands  in  Wisconsin,  "which  any 
timber  merchant  would  purchase  at  $65-$75  an  acre,"  had 
been  sold  by  Mr.  Cornell  to  'an  associate  for  the  nominal  price 
of  $5.00  per  acre.  The  purpose  of  the  bill  was  said  to  be 
to  compel  the  Comptroller  to  return  the  bond  which  Mr.  Cor- 
nell had  given,  and  thus  free  the  latter  from  any  restrictions 
whatever.  The  charges,  in  general,  were  that  the  Act  of 
Congress  had  been  violated,  in  that  the  moneys  derived  from 
the  lands  had  been  invested  in  securities  not  allowed  by  the 
act;  that  Ezra  Cornell  was  using  his  position  in  regard  to 
the  lands  for  the  purposes  of  private  speculation  and  worse; 
that  he  had  presented  no  statement  of  his  accounts  for  seven 
years ;  and  that  the  act  of  Congress  was  being  violated  in  the 
fact  that  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts  were  not  the 
leading  branches  of  study  at  the  University  but  that  only  a 
pretence  of  them  was  kept  up.  The  real  motive  behind  the 
accusation  is  found  in  the  complaint  that  "moneys  which 
properly  belonged  to  every  institution  in  the  State  were 
secured  for  Cornell  University  alone."  In  conclusion,  the 
demand  was  made  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  investi- 
gate the  charges. 

In  spite  of  the  motive  behind  the  attack  and  the  falsity 
of  the  charges,  it  is  evident  that  the  speech  made  a  deep 
impression.  "It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  the  feeling 
produced  in  the  House  by  Mr.  McGuire's  speech  was  most 
profound.  The  high  character  of  the  speaker,  his  evident 
familiarity  with  the  subject  he  dealt  with,  even  to  the  details, 
and  the  care  which  he  took  to  give  his  authority  for  every 
statement  made  the  strongest  impression  on  his  hearers." 

On  the  morning  of  May  15  a  resolution,  apparently  drawn 
up  by  Mr.  McG-uire,  was  offered  in  the  Senate  providing  that 
the  Comptroller,  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction, 
and  the  State  Treasurer  should  constitute  a  commission  to 
inquire  into  Cornell's  management  of  the  lands  and  similar 
matters.  All  of  these  individuals  were  thought  to  be  hostile 


41 

to  Mr.  Cornell.  On  the  evening  of  the  same  day  Mr.  Alonzo 
B.  Cornell,  who  had  heard  nothing  of  the  Senate  resolutions, 
asked  'as  a  personal  favor  unanimous  consent  to  offer  a  reso- 
lution in  the  House  providing  for  the  appointment  of 
Horatio  Seymour  of  Oneida,  William  G.  Fargo  of  Erie,  and 
Lewis  Gr.  Morris  of  Westchester  as  a  committee  to  investi- 
gate the  affairs  of  Cornell  University  and  the  management 
of  the  land  grant.  Only  one  objection  was  made,  which  came 
from  Mr.  McGuire,  but  that  one  objection  was  sufficient  to 
defeat  the  resolution.  This  action  put  Mr.  McGuire  in  a  bad 
light  and  aroused  the  suspicion  that  he  was  not  dealing  fairly 
in  the  matter.  Mr.  Ezra  Cornell  had  already  written  to  the 
governor  requesting  the  appointment  of  a  commission  and 
the  matter  was  finally  settled  by  allowing  the  members  to  be 
named  by  the  governor. 

The  Commission,  as  appointed  by  the  Governor,  consisted 
of  Horatio  Seym'our,  William  A.  Wheeler,  and  John  D.  Van 
Buren,  all  men  of  national  prominence,  Mr.  Seymour  hav- 
ing been  Governor  of  New  York  and  candidate  for  President 
while  Mr.  Wheeler  was  later  elected  Vice-President.  Both 
Mr.  Seymour  and  Mr.  Van  Buren  were  political  opponents 
of  Mr.  Cornell.  The  commission  was  instructed  to  inquire 
as  to  whether  the  laws  of  Congress  and  the  act  of  the  State 
legislature  had  been  complied  with;  to  investigate  the  man- 
agement of  the  timber  lands;  and  to  ascertain  whether  ag- 
riculture and  the  mechanic  arts  were  the  leading  subjects 
taught  at  Cornell. 

A  very  thorough  investigation  was  made  by  the  commis- 
sion into  all  these  points  and  a  large  number  of  witnesses 
were  examined  and  their  testimony  carefully  considered. 
Mr.  McGuire  was  invited  to  attend  all  the  meetings  of  the 
commission  and  was  given  every  opportunity  to  prove  his 
accusations.  The  commission  reported  on  April  16,  1874, 
both  majority  and  minority  reports  being  submitted. 


42 

A  large  part  of  the  reports  consists  of  a  history  of  the 
transactions  relating  to  the  disposal  of  the  state  land  scrip, 
and  Mr.  Cornell's  management  of  the  same  after  it  came  into 
his  hands.     This  has  been  treated  elsewhere  and  need  not  be 
considered   at  this  point.     The  majority  report,   signed  by 
Mr.  Wheeler  and  Mr.  Van  Buren,  and  the  minority  report, 
signed  by  Mr.  Seymour,  differ  chiefly  in  their  answer  to  the 
instructions  to  recommend  "what  legislation  is  necessary  to 
properly  secure  said  funds  (i.  e.,  Cornell  Endowment  Fund) 
in  compliance  with  the  act  of  Congress."     The  majority  re- 
port holds  that  no  action  is  necessary.     The  Cornell  Endow- 
ment Fund  is  considered  as  a  part  of  the  proceeds  from  the 
scrip,  and  as  legally  the  same  as  the  other  fund.    .The  minor- 
ity report,  on  the  other  hand,  holds  that  the  division  into 
two  funds  is  a  violation  of  the  Land  Grant  Act,  inasmuch  as 
the  State  is  thereby  indirectly  locating  lands  within  another 
state,  through  an  agent.     Attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that 
there  is  no  legal  way  of  holding  Mr.  Cornell  to  his  contract. 
The  report  ends  wiiii  the  recommendation  that  immediate 
steps  be  taken  to  sell  the  remaining  lands  and  close  up  the 
whole  business. 

In  neither  report  is  there  any  statement  which  reflects  the 
slighest  suspicion  upon  Mr.  Cornell's  motives  or  actions. 
The  majority  report  states  that  it  considers  the  present  state 
of  affairs  satisfactory.  The  minority  report,  which  recom- 
mends a  change,  specifically  exempts  Mr.  Cornell  from  any 
suspicion  by  the  statement  that  "it  is  due  to  Mr.  Cornell  to 
state  that  none  of  the  witnesses  or  parties  who  appeared  be- 
fore the  committee  complained  that  he  had  sought  to  gain 
any  pecuniary  advantage  to  himself  or  his  family  in  the  man- 
agement of  the  property  under  his  control."  The  commis- 
sion believed,  however,  that  the  estimates  of  the  future  value 
of  the  lands  were  placed  too  high  and  that  "if  a  gain  of  one 
million  can  be  made  over  and  'above  taxes  and  expenses  and 
other  drawbacks,  it  will  be  a  fortunate  result." 


43 

An  interesting  portion  of  the  report  is  the  contention  that 
the  University  does  not  fulfill  the  requirements  of  the  act 
of  Congress  because  it  is  devoted  to  general  culture,  rather 
than  to  "agriculture  and  the  mechanic  -arts."  The  agricul- 
tural instruction  was  regarded  as  particularly  weak  and  the 
commission  reported  that  "Our  impression  is  that  no  larger 
proportion  of  the  students  of  Cornell  University,  as  now 
organized,  go  in  after  life  into  agriculture,  than  those  of 
other  colleges."  The  opinion  of  the  committee  was  that 
"the  grant  made  by  Congress  was  not  for  the  benefit  of  men 
of  letters,  socalled,  or  of  men  who  expect  to  live  solely  by 
mental  work —  —If  the  University  seeks  to  impart  its 
benefits  to  tlhese  classes  it  does  not  carry  out  the  purpose  of 
Congress.  It  will  become  still  more  than  it  now  is,  a  school 
for  general  learning  which  does  not  exclude  agriculture  and 
mechanics,  rather  than  a  school  for  these  arts,  without  ex- 
cluding other  kinds  of  learning."  This  complaint  seems  to 
wholly  overlook  the  fact  that  a  large  part  of  the  funds  of 
Cornell  University  were  derived  from  other  sources  than  the 
Land  Grant  Act. 

TKANSFER    OF    LANDS    TO    UOTVEESITY. 

Mr.  Cornell's  motives  and  actions  having  been  vindicated, 
the  subject  of  the  transfer  of  the  management  of  the  lands 
from  Mr.  Cornell  to  the  University  was  again  considered. 
The  first  action  taken  by  the  University  was  on  July  1,  1874, 
when  a  committee  consisting  of  Henry  W.  Sage,  John  Mc- 
G-raw,  Andrew  D.  White,  George  W.  Schuyler  and  Francis 
M.  Finch  was  appointed  "to  consider  the  relations  existing 
between  Ezra  Cornell  and  the  State  as  to  lands  located  by 
him  in  behalf  of  the  University,  and  the  accounts  growing 
out  of  the  same,  with  a  view  to  the  settlement  of  all  questions 
connected  therewith  and  to  consider  as  a  part  of  such  settle- 
ment the  transfer  of  the  unsold  lands  from  Ezra  Cornell  to 
the  University." 


44 

On  October  14,  1874,  a  communication  was  made  by  Cor- 
nell University  to  the  Commissioners  of  the  Land  Office, 
in  which  the  University  proposed  "to  take  the  place  and 
assume  the  duties  and  obligations  of  Ezra  Cornell,  in  his 
contracts  with  the  State,  of  November,  1865,  and  August, 
1866,  accepting  from  him  a  conveyance  of  his  entire  in- 
terest and  all  his  rights  under  such  contracts,  and  of  all 
the  lands  located  by  him  with  college  scrip,  and  paying  at 
once  in  cash  to  the  Comptroller  the  full  amount  of  Cornell's 
bonds  to  the  State,  principal  and  interest,  and  henceforward 
assuming  the  burden  of  the  care,  management,  and  sale  of 
such  lands/'  This  proposition  was  approved  by  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  Land  Board  and  the  formal  transfer  of  the 
lands  from  Mr.  Cornell  to  the  University  took  place  on  Oct. 
13,  1874.  The  purpose  of  the  transfer  was  to  assure  proper 
management  of  the  lands  after  Mr.  Cornell  was  no  longer 
able  to  care  for  them;  that  this  transfer  came  none  too  soon 
is  attested  by  Mr.  Cornell's  death,  which  occurred  on  Decem- 
ber 9,  1874. 

In  taking  over  these  unsold  lands,  it  was  necessary  that  the 
University  should  make  arrangements  to  settle  with  Mr.  Cor- 
nell for  the  land  expenses  which  he  had  met  from  his  own 
fortune.  Mr.  Cornell's  account  was  as  follows : 

Total-  pay'ts  for  scrip,  location,  examina- 
tions, and  all  expenses  for  taxes,  interest, 
etc $720,438.36 

Total  receipts  from  sales  of  land,  timber, 

and  interest  on  same 146,583.64 


Balance  due  Ezra  Cornell $573,854.72 

This  sum  was  paid  principally  from  the  proceeds  of  the 
sale  of  100,000  acres  which  had  just  been  closed  for  the  sum 
of  $400,000  (see  p.  34),  the  balance  being  taken  from  the 
Cornell  Endowment  Fund. 


45 
MANAGEMENT    OF   THE   UNIVEKSITY. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  transfer,  the  land  transactions  had 
been  conducted  by  Ezra  Cornell,  William  A.  Woodward,  who 
had  charge  of  the  locations,  management,  and  sale  of  lands, 
and  Henry  C.  Putnam  of  Eau  Claire,  who  looked  after  the 
details  of  location,  tax  paying,  etc.  These  parties  all  kept 
separate  accounts  and  there  was  no  central  office  and  no  com- 
plete system  of  records  at  any  one  place. 

Upon  the  transfer  of  the  lands  to  the  University  the  cor- 
respondence, such  records  as  had  been  kept,  tax  receipts,  and 
other  documents  relating  to  the  location,  examination,  sale, 
and  management  of  lands  were  given  over  to  the  Treasurer 
of  the  University.  All  of  this  material  was  in  the  utmost 
confusion,  much  of  it  having  been  dumped  into  huge  baskets 
and  left  in  that  form,  and  it  became  necessary  to  classify 
this  mass  of  documents  and  from  it  prepare  a  complete  set 
of  books  and  records  and  bring  them  down  from  1866  to  the 
fall  of  1874.  This  work  was  most  ably  and  satisfactorily  done 
by  the  Treasurer  of  the  University  and  his  assistants  in  the 
land  department  at  Ithaca. 

From  the  beginning  of  its  control  the  policy  of  the  University 
has  been  to  place  the  lands  under  the  general  charge  of  a 
committee.  On  Nov.  10,  1874,  the  first  committee,  consist- 
ing of  Henry  W.  Sage,  chairman,  J.  B.  Williams,  G-.  W. 
Schuyler,  John  McGraw  and  S.  D.  Halliday,  with  F.  M. 
Finch  acting  as  attorney  of  the  University,  was  appointed 
with  power  to  dispose  of  the  Western  lands  belonging  to  the 
University,  and  with  instructions  to  report  all  transactions 
to  the  Executive  Committee  as  they  took  place  and  at  each 
meeting  of  the  Trustees  for  approval. 

A  land  department  was  established  in  connection  with  the 
office  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  University  at  Ithaca,  where  all 
the  records  were  kept  and  where  all  the  business  connected 
with  the  sale  and  management  of  the  lands  was  carried  on, 


46 

the  Treasurer  having  an  'assistant  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Gratz 
Van  Eensselaer,  appointed  especially  to  look  after  the  details 
of  land  transactions.  Mr.  Van  Eensselaer  continued  in  this 
capacity  until  1882,  when  Mr.  Horace  Mack  who  holds  the 
position  at  the  present  time  was  appointed  to  succeed  him. 
A  land  office  was  also  established  at  Eau  Claire,  Wis.,  with 
Mr.  H.  C.  Putnam  in  charge,  to  look  after  taxpaying,  collec- 
tions, and  similar  details,  and  to  receive  applications  for  land 
and  timber  and  forward  the  same  to  the  office  of  the  Treas- 
urer of  the  University,  where  all  prices  were  fixed  and  papers 
executed,  under  the  direction  of  the  Land  Committee.  On 
Sept.  7,  1876,  Mr.  Smith  Eobertson  was  appointed  Land 
Agent  at  Eau  Claire,  the  appointment  to  take  effect  Nov.  1, 
and  on  Oct.  21,  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Putnam  was  accepted. 
Mr.  Eobertson  continued  in  charge  of  the  office  until  the 
winter  of  1900  when,  on  account  of  advanced  age,  he  was 
relieved  of  his  duties,  and  Mr.  Charles  McArthur  appointed 
in  his  place.  Mr.  McArthur  held  this  position  up  to  April, 
1904,  when,  on  account  of  the  small  amount  of  lands  remain- 
ing unsold,  the  Bau  Claire  office  was  closed  upon  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  Land  Committee,  in  order  to  reduce  ex- 
penses. 

In  addition  to  the  office  force  an  expert  woodsman  was 
kept  in  the  forests,  whose  duty  was  to  see  that  parties  lum- 
bering on  adjoining  lands  did  not  cut  over  the  line  into 
Cornell  timber,  to  report  all  trespass,  fire,  and  windfall,  and 
to  re-examine  the  lands  from  time  to  time,  so  as  to  keep  the 
Cornell  University  record  down  to  date.  This  service  was 
most  satisfactorily  rendered  by  Mr.  Daniel  Fitzhugh,  of 
Eau  Claire,  until  1885,  when  he  resigned  and  Mr.  L.  V. 
Eipley  took  charge  of  the  work  and  continued  as  long  as  the 
services  of  a  woodsman  were  required.  The  energy,  loyalty, 
and  efficiency  of  these  officers,  in  their  various  capacities, 
contributed  largely  to  the  success  which  attended  the  man- 
agement and  sale  of  the  lands. 


47 

The  Land  Committee  appointed  on  Nov.  10,  1874,  retained 
charge  -of  the  lands  until  June  20,  1877  when,  by  resolution 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  it  was  abolished  'and  its  duties 
transferred  to  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees.  This  -arrangement  continued,  important  matters 
being  referred  to  Special  Committees  to  report  on,  until  Feb. 
1,  1887,  when  a  Land  Committee,  consisting  of  H.  W.  Sage, 
chairman,  Judge  Boardman,  and  Treasurer  E.  L.  Wil- 
liams, was  appointed.  In  Sept.,  1891,  Wm.  H.  Sage  was 
appointed  on  the  Committee  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
death  of  Judge  Boardman  and  after  the  death  of  Mr.  H.  W. 
Sage,  in  Sept.,  1897,  -and  the  removal  of  Wm.  H.  Sage  from 
Ithaca,  a  new  committee  consisting  of  S.  D.  Halliday,  chair- 
man, A.  B.  Cornell,  and  Treasurer  E.  L.  Williams,  was  ap- 
pointed and  continued  until  Oct.  24,  1903,  when,  upon  the 
recommendation  of  the  chairman,  the  committee  was  dis- 
continued and  its  duties  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee. 

SALES  OF  TIMBER  AND  LAND. 

For  many  years  following  the  location  of  the  timber  lands 
there  was  very  little  demand  for  them  at  any  reasonable  price. 
Such  a  vast  quantity  of  timber  was  in  sight  that  the  impres- 
sion prevailed  that  the  supply  was  inexhaustible,  and  the 
policy  of  the  mill  owners  was  to  buy  only  as  they  needed 
timber  to  cut,  thus  forcing  land  owners  to  face  the  problem 
of  carrying  the  lands,  paying  taxes  and  guarding  against 
trespass  indefinitely,  or  to  accept  such  prices  as  the  mill 
owners  were  willing  to  offer. 

The  charges  for  taxation  were  specially  heavy.  The  tax 
officials  of  Wisconsin  put  almost  the  entire  burden  of  taxation 
upon  non-residents,  and  frequent  legal  contests  were  necessary 
to  prevent  excessive  taxing  of  the  University  lands.  During 
the  years  1875-1880  the  taxes  alone  upon  these  lands  amounted 
to  $198,458,  an  average  of  $33,076  per  year  for  six  years. 


48 

Other  expenses  ran  the  average  yearly  cost  of  carrying  the 
lands,  including  the  amounts  paid  on  the  Woodward  Suit  and 
for  interest,  up  to  $71,469.  During  this  same  period  the  average 
yearly  sales  were  only  $76,813,  being  only  barely  sufficient 
to  carry  the  lands.  In  fact,  on  June  1,  1881,  the  total  ex- 
penses had  'amounted  to  $1,062,407,  while  the  sales  had  only 
brought  in  $991,950,  leaving  -a  deficit  of  $70,457.  And  the 
most  discouraging  feature  was  that  during  these  years  there 
had  been  very  little  increase  in  the  market  value  of  the  lands. 

A  continuation  of  these  conditions  meant  a  very  small 
profit  as  a  result  of  all  these  years  of  labor  and  it  is  not 
surprising  that  when,  in  the  fall  of  1880,  advances  were  made 
by  a  New  York  Syndicate,  looking  to  the  purchase  of  the 
remaining  timber  lands,  viz.,  275,000  acres  for  $1,250,000, 
the  majority  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  were  in  favor  of  sell- 
ing for  that  sum.     Mr.  Sage  alone  was  opposed,  his  experi- 
ence in  the  land  and  lumber  business  gave  him  faith  in  the 
future  value  of  the  lands.     During  the  discussion  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Executive  Committee  he  said,  "If  I  was  not  a 
member  of  this  board,  so  that  I  would  be  free  to  deal  with  the 
University,  I  would  pay  more  than  that  sum  for  these  lands." 
Other  trustees,  however,  strongly  urged  the  necessity  of  funds 
to  develop  the  University,  one  of  them  going  so  far  as  to 
make  the  statement  that  $1,250,000  at  that  time  was  worth 
more  than  five  times  that  amount  five  or  ten  years  later,  as 
the  University  was  dropping  hopelessly  behind  for  want  of 
funds.     Mr.  Sage  finally  yielded  to  these  pleas  and  the  com- 
pany was  given  an  option  for  thirty  days  upon  all  of  the 
lands  for  the  sum  of  $1,250,000.     At    its    expiration    the 
option  was  extended  for  an  additional  thirty  days;  this  was 
also  allowed  to  expire  and  an  application  made  for  a  further 
extension.     This  second  extension  was  granted,  but  the  price 
was  raised  to  $1,500,000  and  this  in  view  of  the  uncertainty 
of  the  syndicate,  was  sufficient  to  prevent  the  sale,  and  the 
whole  matter  was  dropped. 


49 

The  need  of  more  funds  for  developing  the  tfnitWsiiy  had 
"been  so  forcibly  urged,  however,  that  Mr.  Sage,  in  order  to- 
prevent  the  sacrifice  of  the  lands  devised  the  scheme  of 
talizing  them  into  a  fund  of  $1,000,000  and  charging 
with  the  interest  upon  this  sum  annually.  The  su'iii  thus: 
obtained,  viz.,  $50,000,  was  transferred  to  University  inco'me1 
and  was  to  be  taken  from  sales  of  land  or  timber.  This,  of 
course,  was  only  paper  income  for,  as  shown  above,  th©  total 
sales  up  to  that  time  had  not  equalled  the  expenses,  but  Mr*. 
Sage's  faith  in  the  future  value  of  the  lands  was  great  and 
he  declared  that  in  the  next  few  years  they  would  increase 
in  value  far  beyond  the  cost  of  carrying  them,  even  with  the 
interest  charge  added.  As  will  be  seen  later  this  great  faith 
was  fully  justified.  The  capitalization  plan  was  followed  for 
two  years,  viz.,  1880-81,  when  $50,000  was  charged  to  the 
land  account,  and  in  1881-82,  when  $64,000  was  so  charged, 
these  sums  being  carried  over  to  University  income. 

About  this  time  the  reports  contained  in  the  forestry  sec- 
tion of  the  Census  of  1880  became  public.  Among  them 
were  estimates  of  the  amount  of  standing  white  pine  in  the 
four  principal  pine  states,  namely,  Pennsylvania,  Michigan, 
Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota,  and  estimates  of  the  amounts  cut 
in  these  states  during  the  previous  year.  The.  total  amount 
of  standing  white  pine  in  these  states  on  May  31,  1880,  was 
estimated  at  85,970,000,000  feet;  the  amount  cut  during 
the  year  ending  May  31,  1882,  was  placed  at  7,415,507,000 
feet.  If  this  rate  of  cutting  were  to  continue  the  prospect 
was  that  the  entire  supply  of  white  pine  would  be  exhausted 
in  about  12  years. 

This  report  was,  of  course,  based  upon  the  plan  of  cutting 
then  followed,  viz.,  no  log  under  12  inches  being  merchant- 
able. Closer  cutting,  economy,  and  the  discovery  of  new 
tracts  has  lengthened  the  life  of  the  white  pine  timber 
far  beyond  the  period  named  by  the  commissioners,  but 
at  that  time  the  report  made  a  great  impression  upon  the 


50 

minds  of  men  who  had  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars 
invested  in  mill  properties.  They  saw  that  in  order  to 
protect  their  investments  in  saw  mills,  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  control  timber  for  future  years'  cutting,  and  they 
immediately  began  purchasing  large  tracts  tributory  to  the 
streams  upon  which  their  mills  were  located.  This  created 
an  immense  demand  and  competition  for  timber,  which  was 
of  great  advantage  to  the  land  owners. 

The  University  first  felt  the  benefit  of  this  increased  de- 
mand in  September,  1881,  when  representatives  of  the  firm 
of  Knapp,  Stout  &  Co.  of  Menomonee,  Wis.,  appeared  at 
Ithaca  and  in  a  few  hours  made  a  contract  for  the  purchase 
of  30,998.97  acres  of  land  for  $477,550.00.  This  sale  was  based 
upon  a  charge  of  $2.00  per  M  ft.  for  the  pine  timber,  the  land 
being  thrown  in.  This  was  the  largest  sale  in  amount  and 
the  highest  price  per  M  ft.  for  timber  which  had  been  heard 
of  up  to  that  time,  and  when  announced  caused  a  great  deal 
of  excitement  in  land  and  timber  circles. 

But -this  was  only  the  beginning.  In  August,  1882,  a 
contract  was  made  with  the  Chippewa  Logging  Company, 
of  Chippewa  Falls,  Wis.,  for  the  sale  of  109,600.66  acres 
of  land  for  $1,841,746.00,  this  sale  being  based  upon  $3.00 
per  M  ft.  for  the  pine  timber  and  50  cents  per  acre  for 
the  land.  Widespread  comment  was  caused,  not  only  be- 
cause of  the  amount  involved,  but  also  on  account  of  its 
being  the  first  instance  where  a  charge  was  made  for  the 
land,  previous  sales  of  timber  having  always  been  considered 
as  including  the  land.  These  two  transactions  becoming 
known,  started  a  lively  competition  for  the  purchase  of  tim- 
ber by  mill  owners  all  over  'the  Northwest,  and  during  the 
:two  years,  Jan.  1,  1881,  to  Jan.  1,  1883,  the  University  sold 
170,939  acres  of  land  for  $2,644,564,  and  the  pine  timber 
from  14,638  acres  for  $98,605,  an  aggregate  of  $2,743,169. 
The  price  for  pine  timber  had  been  steadily  advanced  to 
$3.50,  $4.00,  and  even  $5.00  per  M  ft.,  so  that  within  a  period 


51 

of  two  years  after  the  option  for  the  sale  of  the  whole  body  of 
timber  lands  for  $1,250,000  had  expired,  the  University  had 
sold  about  two-thirds  of  the  lands  for  more  than  double  the 
amount  of  the  option  for  the  whole. 

During  the  years  previous  to  this  increase  in  value,  the 
University  was  about  the  only  owner  that  paid  taxes  upon  its 
lands  after  the  timber  had  been  removed,  the  uniform  prac- 
tice being  to  abandon  the  land  and  allow  it  to  go  back  to  the 
state  for  taxes.  The  policy  of  the  University  proved  very 
profitable.  As  timber  increased  in  value  and  lumbermen  be- 
gan taking  timber  of  smaller  size  and  poorer  quality  than 
formefly,  timber  licenses  were  sold  for  a  second  cutting,  and 
after  a  few  years  !for  a  third  cutting,  on  many  of  these  lands. 
In  some  instances  the  second  and  third  cuttings  each  sold 
for  more  than  the  first,  by  reason  of  the  larger  amount  of 
this  class  of  timber  and  the  increased  price  it  commanded. 

The  steady  increase  in  market  value  of  timber  forced 
lumbermen  to  cut  the  land  closer  and  to  take  smaller  logs 
than  formerly,  so  that  the  size  of  a  merchantable  log  dropped 
from  14  to  12  and  10  and  later  even  to  8  inches.  Sometime 
before  this  the  Land  Committee  had  felt  that  the  estimates 
of  timber  on  University  lands,  made  in  1872,  were  too  low, 
and  to  make  up  for  low  estimates  and  for  growth  in  the 
meantime,  endorsed  upon  all  of  the  land  plats  a  memorandum 
to  the  effect  that  selling  estimates  were  25  per  cent 'added  to 
the  estimates  shown  on  the  books.  This  was  made  known 
to  purchasers  and  sales  were  made  on  that  basis. 

In  1885  it  was  thought  wise  to  have  a  systematic  re-exami- 
nation of  the  land,  and  Mr.  L.  Y.  Eipley,  of  Eau  Claire,  Wis., 
and  a  corps  of  assistants  were  employed  for  that  purpose.  This 
work  was  most  carefully  and  efficiently  done,  and  resulted  in 
the  addition,  of  many  thousands  of  dollars  to  the  University 
from  the  higher  prices  for  which  the  lands  were  sold.  The 
reports  included  not  only  the  amount,  size,  and  quality  of 
white  pine,  but  also  the  amount  and  size  of  Norway  pine, 


62 

hemlock,  oak,  birch,  maple,  elm,  ash,  'and  other  kinds  of 
timber  and  the  number  of  telegraph  poles,  E.  K.  ties,  fence 
posts,  and  cords  of  wood,  and  gave  the  lay  of  the  land  and 
character  of  the  soil,  so  that  in  -the  office,  at  Ithaca,  by  study- 
ing the  streams  and  railroads  and  nearness  of  timber  to 
transportation,  every  condition  effecting  the  value  of  the  land 
might  be  known.  This  examination  also  resulted  in  a  large 
increase  in  the  estimate  of  white  pine  upon  the  lands.  Many 
tracts  which  in  1872  had  been  reported  to  contain  no  mer- 
chantable pine  were  found  to  be  heavily  timbered,  owing 
partly  to  the  growth  during  the  intervening  years  and  partly 
to  the  fact  heretofore  mentioned  that  the  size  of  merchant- 
able logs  had  been  reduced,  so  that  timber  that  was  of  no 
value  in  1872  was  merchantable  and  commanded  a  good  price 
in  1885. 

Great  care  was  exercised  in  the  fixing  of  prices.  When  an 
application  was  received  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  University, 
a  study  was  made  of  each  individual  forty  acres  involved,  a 
list  taken  of  the  amount,  size  and  quality  of  each  kind  of 
timber,  and  any  items  effecting  the  value  noted.  Consulta- 
tion was  then  had  with  the  Chairman  of  the  Land  Committee 
as  to  the  price  to  be  fixed.  Mr.  Sage's  advice  was  to  show 
proper  respect  for  the  property  by  asking  something  for  it; 
if  one  did  not  put  a  full  value  on  the  property,  he  would  not 
get  it. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  results  of  following  this  policy, 
we  may  take  the  socalled  Penoke  group,  consisting  of  24,900 
acres  in  Ashland  and  Iron  counties,  on  the  extreme  northern 
edge  of  the  University  lands  and  nearly  fifty  miles  north  of 
the  point  where  the  bulk  of  logging  operations  were  being 
carried  on  in  the  seventies.  The  estimates  of  1872  gave 
67,633,000  ft.  of  pine  on  this  tract.  The  first  recorded 
offering  of  the  tract  as  a  whole  was  on  Oct.  1,  1879,  at  $5.50 
per  acre  or  $142,450  for  the  land  and  timber.  This  offer 
was  renewed  to  various  parties  during  the  succeeding  year 


53 

and  was  universally  rejected  as  too  high.  On  Jan.  31,  1881, 
the  price  was  increased  to  $8  per  acre  or  $207,200  and  on 
March  15,  1881,  to  $222,000.  On  March  20,  1882,  the  decision 
had  been  reached  to  -add  25  per  cent  to  the  estimates  of  pine 
timber,  and  the  price  was  raised  to  $325,000,  the  estimate  of 
pine  having  been  increased  to  84,524,000  ft.  Objection  was 
made  by  applicants  that  the  Bad  Eiver,  to  which  the  timber 
was  tributory,  was  very  rocky  and  that  there  were  several 
rapids  and  falls  that  would  have  to  be  improved  at  large  cost 
before  the  timber  could  be  driven  out.  Mr.  Sage  always  re- 
plied, "Stick  to  your  price;  some  one  will  want  this  timber 
before  long  at  a  fair  price."  On  Sept.  21,  1882,  the  price 
was  fixed  at  $369,289,  a  basis  of  $4.00  per  M  for  timber, 
and  $1.25  per  acre  for  the  land.  On  Feb.  9,  1885,  the  price 
was  raised  to  $390,600  for  the  pine  timber,  the  University 
reserving  the  land  and  hardwood. 

During  the  year  1885-86  this  tract  was  reached  in  the  re- 
examination  then  being  made,  and  reports  gave  'an  aggregate 
of  97,758,000  ft.  of  high  grade  pine.  The  price  was  im- 
mediately increased  and  on  June  28,  1887,  the  pine  timber 
alone  on  this  24,900  acres  was  sold  for  $513,689.00,  the 
University  retaining  the  land  and  all  timber  except  the  pine. 
This  tract  forms  a  part  of  the  unsold  lands  at  the  present 
time  and  is  valued  at  $5.00  per  acre,  which,  if  obtained,  will 
make  a  total  of  $643,189  for  land  that  was  offered  in  1879 
for  $142,450.  This,  although  the  largest  in  amount,  is  not 
an  isolated  case;  in  fact,  the  same  policy  governed  all  the 
University  transactions.  The  settlement,  of  the  State  of 
Wisconsin,  building  of  railroads,  improvement  of  streams, 
and  all  conditions  affecting  values  were  closely  followed  and 
prices  regulated  accordingly. 


54 

POSITION  OF  CORNELL  ENDOWMENT  FUND  AND 

COLLEGE  LAND  SCRIP  FUND  IN  RELATION 

TO  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  THE  STATE. 

In  the  eighties  an  event  occurred  which  brought  out  more 
clearly  the  relation  of  the  Cornell  Endowment  Fund  to  the 
University;  that  event  was  the  McGraw-Fiske  Will  contest. 
Although  of  importance  to  our  subject  only  because  of  its 
bearing  upon  the  Cornell  Endowment  Fund,  «a  brief  account 
of  the  whole  matter  may  not  be  out  of  place.  The  facts  are 
that  Mrs.  Jennie  McGraw  Fiske,  a  daughter  of  John  Mc- 
Graw, who  had  been  one  of  the  early  benefactors  of  Cornell, 
died  on  Sept.  30,  1881,  and  by  the  terms  of  her  will,  left  the 
greater  part  of  her  large  fortune  to  Cornell  University,  to 
be  used  for  the  foundation  of  the  library.  This  money  was 
estimated  to  amount  to  about  a  million  and  a  quarter  of 
dollars. 

Unfortunately  the  University  never  received  the  money. 
Mrs.  Fiske's  husband,  Prof.  Willard  Fiske,  instituted  legal 
proceedings  to  annul  that  part  of  the  will  which  gave  the 
bulk  of  her  fortune  to  the  .  University.  His  claim  was 
based  chiefly  upon  Sec.  5  of  the  charter  of  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, which  provides  that  "the  Corporation  hereby  created 
may  hold  real  and  personal  property  to  an  amount  not  ex- 
ceeding $3,000,000  in  the  aggregate,"  contending  that  the  Uni- 
versity already  held  property  to  the  full  limit  of  the  $3,000,- 
000  and  hence  could  not  take  any  more.  The  University 
claimed,  among  other  things,  that  it  did  not  hold,  "within 
the  meaning  of  the  limitation  clause  of  the  charter,  any  of 
the  proceeds  or  avails  of  land  scrip  issued  to  the  State  of  New 
York  under  the  Morrill  Act  of  1862  'and  that,  deducting  such 
proceeds,  the  limits  of  its  charter  would  not  be  exhausted  by 
the  entire  bequests  to  it  by  Mrs.  Fiske." 

It  soon  became  evident  that  the  main  question  was  whether 
or  not  the  University  actually  held  the  property,  whose  pro- 


55 

ceeds  come  under  the  heading  of  the  Cornell  Endowment 
Fund.  This  fund  was  formerly  in  the  entire  possession  of 
the  state,  but  on  May  18,  1880,  all  the  securities,  moneys,  and 
contracts  which  constituted  the  fund  had  been  transferred 
to  the  University.  The  University  contended,  however,  that 
the  entire  proceeds  of  the  Land  Grant,  including  the  Cornell 
Endowment  Fund,  in  reality  belonged  to  the  State  and  that 
Cornell  University  had  only  a  conditional  right  to  the  in- 
come, based  upon  compliance  with  certain  requirements  laid 
down  by  the  state.  On  the  other  side,  among  other  things,  it 
was  contended  that  the  Cornell  Endowment  Fund  belonged 
entirely  to  the  University.  This  was  the  view  taken  by  the 
courts,  for  the  University  lost  its  case  in  the  Supreme  Court 
and  Court  of  Appeals  and,  finally,  on  an  appeal  to  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States. 

The  result  was  that  the  bequest  was  lost  to  the  University. 
From  our  point  of  view  the  importance  of  the  decision  lies 
rather  in  the  fact  that  the  position  of  the  Cornell  Endowment 
Fund  was  definitely  settled;  it  belonged  entirely  to  the  Uni- 
versity and  could  be  used  in  any  way  that  institution  de- 
sired, being  subject  to  none  of  the  restrictions  of  the  Land 
Grant  Act. 

The  position  of  the  Cornell  Endowment  Fund  was  thus 
finally  determined,  but  there  still  remained  a  difference  of 
opinion  over  the  College  Land  Scrip  Fund.  The  chief  dif- 
ficulty arose  over  the  question  of  charging  the  revenue  of 
the  fund  with  the  premiums  paid  on  investments.  The  Act 
of  1862  had  provided  (sec.  3),  "That  all  the  expenses  of 
management,  superintendence,  and  taxes  from  date  of  selec- 
tion of  said  lands  previous  to  sale,  and  all  expenses  incurred 
in  the  managment  and  disbursements  of  the  moneys  which 
may  be  received  therefrom,  shall  be  paid  by  the  states  to 
which  they  may  belong,  out  of  the  treasury  of  said  state,  so 
that  the  entire  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  said  lands  shall  be  ap- 
plied, without  any  diminution  whatever,  to  the  purposes 


56 

hereinafter  mentioned/'  The  Act  had  also  provided  (sec. 
4)  that  these  moneys  should  be  invested  in  some  safe  stocks, 
"yielding  not  less  than  five  per  centum  upon  the  par  value  of 
said  stocks/'  and  (sec.  5)-  that  "if  any  portion  of  the  fund 
invested,  as  provided  tiy  the  foregoing  section,  or  any  portion 
of  the  interest  thereon  shall,  by  'any  action  or  contingency, 
be  diminished  or  lost,  it  shall  be  replaced  by  the  State  to 
which  it  belongs,  so  that  the  capital  of  the  fund  shall  remain 
forever  undiminished."  When  New  York  State  accepted  the 
grant  in  1863,  it  agreed  to  these  conditions. 

In  the  investment  of  the  moneys,  after  the  sale  of  the  scrip, 
perfectly  legitimate  expenses  were  incurred  for  the  premiums 
paid  on  bonds.  In  1882,  $238,394.81  was  paid  for  the  pur- 
chase of  $200,000  of  U.  S.  bonds,  the  excess  of  $38,394.81 
including  premiums,  interest,  and  commissions.  This  latter 
sum  was  charged  as  a  payment  out  of  the  revenue  account,  that 
is,  it  was  to  be  deducted  from  the  revenue  which  the  Univer- 
sity should  receive  as  interest  from  the  fund,  and  the  Comp- 
troller announced  that  no  more  payments  would  be  made  to 
Cornell  University  from  the  future  income  of  the  fund  "until 
after  the  revenue  therefrom  shall  have  first  made  good  the 
revenue  accounts  for  the  drafts  made  upon  it  as  stated  above 
for  interest,  premiums  and  commissions  on  investments 
already  made." 

The  University  claimed  that  it  was  entitled  to  an  income 
of  5  per  cent  upon  the  whole  of  the  fund,  and  that  all  ex- 
penses incurred  in  the  investment  of  the  fund  should  be 
met  by  the  state.  In  order  to  settle  the  matter,  a  mandamus 
procedure  was  instituted  against  the  Comptroller  to  recover 
the  revenue  which  had  been  withheld  from  the  University  in 
order  to  pay  these  expenses  of  investment.  The  Court  of 
Appeals  decided,  on  Jan.  14,  1890,  that  moneys  which  had 
been  spent  in  the  payment  of  premiums  for  investments  "are 
expenses  connected  with  the  management  and  maintenance 
of  the  fund,  which  should  be  made  good  by  the  state  by  an 


57 

appropriation  from  its  treasury."  The  University  was  thus 
declared  entitled  to  the  whole  income  from  the  entire  pro- 
ceeds of  the  fund.  In  accordance  with  this  decision  the 
legislature,  in  the  following  year,  appropriated  $89,383.66 
to  the  University,  this  being  the  total  amount  of  the  income 
which  had  been  withheld  from  the  University  by  the  action 
of  the  Comptroller. 

The  question  still  remained  undecided,  however,  as  to 
whether  the  State  was  bound  to  pay  to  the  University  an  in- 
come of  5  per  cent  upon  the  fund,  in  case  investments  could 
not  be  secured  at  that  rate.  The  remarks  of  the  Judge 
writing  the  opinion  of  the  Court  in  the  above  case,  also  in 
the  McGraw-Fiske  case  (111  N.  Y.  66)  made  the  duty  of 
the  state  very  clear  in  this  matter  and  in  1894  the  legislature 
passed  an  act  agreeing  to  take  over  the  fund  into  the  State 
treasury  and  pay  5  per  cent  on  it  to  the  University.  This 
act  was  vetoed  but  a  similar  act,  passed  the  following  year, 
became  a  law.  The  securities  in  which  the  fund  was  in- 
vested were  then  sold  and  the  proceeds  became  a  part  of  the 
general  fund  of  the  state.  A  certificate  for  $688,576.12, 
bearing  interest  at  5  per  cent,  was  then  issued  to  the  Uni- 
versity and  thus  a  permanent  5  per  cent  investment  of  the 
fund  was  secured.  The  following  is  a  full  copy  of  that  in- 
teresting and  very  valuable  document: 

No.  1.  $34,428.80. 

STATE  OF  NEW  YOEK, 

COMPTROLLER'S  OFFICE. 

ALBANY,  Oct.  1,  1895. 

The  COMPTROLLER  having  sold  and  converted  into  cash  the 
securities  constituting  the  fund  known  as  the  COLLEGE  LAND 
SCRIP  FUND,  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  Chapter  78  of  the 
laws  of  1895,  and  having  credited  the  amount  of  COLLEGE 
LAND  SCRIP  FUND,  being  the  sum  of  six  hundred  and  eighty- 
eight  thousand,  five  hundred  and  seventy-six  dollars  and 


58 

twelve  cents  ($688,576.12)  to  the  GENERAL  FUND  as  in  said 
act  provided. 

It  is  hereby  certified  that  the  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  will  pay 
to  the  CORNELL  UNIVERSITY,  annually  hereafter,  so  long  as  the 
said  CORNELL  UNIVERSITY  shall  comply  with  the  provisions  of 
Chapter  460  .of  the  laws  of  1863,  and  acts  'amendatory  there- 
of and  supplemental  thereto,  and  of  the  act  of  Congress 
therein  referred  to,  the  sum  of  thirty-four  thousand,  four 
hundred  and  twenty-eight  dollars  and  eighty  cents,  being 
five  per  cent  of  the  proceeds  thus  credited  to  the  GENERAL 
FUND  in  the  STATE  TREASURY. 

JAMES  A.  EOBEETS, 

(Seal).  Comptroller. 

COMPARISONS  WITH  PROCEEDS  OF  GRANT  IN 
OTHER  STATES. 

At  the  present  time  the  entire  net  amount  realized  by 
Cornell  University  from  the  Land  Grant  Act  is  estimated  at 
$5,764,786.67,  or  $5.823  per  acre  of  scrip  received.  Of  this 
sum  only  $688,576.12  is  credited  to  the  College  Land  Scrip 
Fund;  the  remainder  represents  the  proceeds  from  the  Cor- 
nell Endowment  Fund.  A  comparison  of  the  amount  of 
money  which  New  York  State  realized  from  her  share  of  the 
land  scrip,  and  the  amounts  which  other  states  realized  from 
their  shares,  may  show  something  of  the  skill  with  which  the 
New  York  State  scrip  was  managed.  The  amount  of  scrip 
which  New  York  received  was  about  1-10  of  the  whole;  the 
amount  of  money  which  the  state  realized  was  about  1-3  of 
the  whole.  When  we  recall  the  facts  that  the  average 
amount  per  acre  realized  by  the  states  from  their  scrip  was 
only  $1.65,  that  only  two  other  states  (Kansas  $5.57  and 
California  $5.14)  received  over  $5.00  an  acre,  and  only  one 
other  state  (Minnesota  $4.39)  over  $3.00  per  acre,  while  some 
states  (R.  I.  $  .41  and  Nebraska  $  .49)  realized  less  than  50 


59 

cents  per  acre,  we  can  understand  something  of  what  Cornell 
University  owes  to  those  who  so  skillfully  attended  to  the 
management  of  her  scrip  and  lands. 

It  should  be  noted  also  that  but  few  States  owned  public 
lands  subject  to  entry  with  this  scrip  within  their  own 
borders.  Two  of  these  were  Kansas  and  California,  and  the 
amount  realized  per  acre  in  those  States,  as  stated  above, 
oame  from  the  fact  that  they  fortunately  located  their  lands 
within  their  own  States.  In  no  State  other  than  New  York 
did  there  ever  appear  a  benefactor  like  Ezra  Cornell,  who 
located  the  lands  for  the  sole  benefit  of  the  beneficiary. 


iThese  figures  regarding  the  other  states  are  taken  from  the 
History  of  the  Aig.  College  Land  Grant,  published  in  1890.  Some 
few  changes  may  have  taken  place  -since  that  time,  tout  the  figures 
are  undoubtedly  substantially  correct. 

DISPOSITION  OF  SCEIP  EECEIVED  BY  NEW  YORK 
STATE. 

Pieces  sold  by   Comptroller 2862 

Pieces  sold  by  Woodward 52 

Pieces  lost  in  the  mails 14 

'  Pieces  left  on  hand  when  full  am't  according  to  law 

had  been  located  in  Wis 2 

Pieces  located  in  behalf  of  University  on  511,069,- 

.53    acres    3257 

Total  No.  of  pieces  rec'd  by  N.  Y.  State 6187 

Fourteen  pieces  of  scrip  were  lost,  presumably  in  the 
mail.  A  copy  of  the  letter  from  the  Land  Office  at  Warsaw, 
Wis.,  enclosing  the  scrip  to  H.  C.  Putnam  at  Eau  Claire  was 
the  kst  trace  found.  Mr.  Putnam  had  no  record  of  having 
received  them,  but  claimed  that  if  received,  he  had  forwarded 
them  to  Mr.  Woodward,  as  was  his  custom  in  such  cases.  Ow- 
ing to  the  feeling  engendered  by  the  suit  with  the  University, 
Mr.  Woodward  refused  to  make  affidavit  that  he  had  not 


60 

received  the  scrip,  hence  the  University  was  unable  to  get 
duplicate  copies  from  the  land  office  at  Washington. 

When  the  land  records  and  papers  were  turned  over  to  the 
University  by  Mr.  Cornell  antl  Mr.  Woodward  in  the  fall  of 
1874,,  two  pieces  of  scrip  were  found  which  had  not  been  sold 
or  located.  There  was  no  land  in  the  Central  Western 
states  at  that  time,  subject  to  entry  with  Agricultural  College 
Scrip,  and  these  two  pieces  of  scrip  are  still  in  the  possession 
of  the  University. 

The  3257  pieces  of  scrip  actually  located  at  160  acres 
each  would  have  represented  521,120  acres.  The  shortage  in 
acres  located  is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  a  piece  of  scrip 
had  to  be  surrendered  for  each  location,  whether  a  full 
quarter  section  or  not.  Frequently  an  eighty  or  hundred 
and  twenty  acre  tract  would  be  found  so  well  timbered  that 
it  was  more  valuable  than  any  full  quarter  in  sight,  and 
would  be  located  with  a  full  piece  of  scrip. 

LOCATION  OF  LAND. 

Wisconsin     3182  pieces        499,126.33  acres 

Minnesota 50  pieces  7,968.27  acres 

Kansas    25  pieces  3,974.93  acres 


3257  pieces         511,069.53  acres 
Land  purchased  by  Mr.  Cornell  and  con- 
veyed to  the  Univ.    with    that    located 
with  Ag.   Coll.  Land  Scrip 1,359.40  acres 


Total    512,428.93  acres 


61 
COLLEGE  LAND   SCEIPT   FUND. 

Total  sale  of  scrip,  including  scrip  sold  Ezra 

Cornell  $603,002.87 

Premium  rec'd  on  sale  of  securities  when  fund 

was  converted  into  the  certificate 85,573.25 


Total  of  College  Land  Scrip  Fund $688,576.12 

'  for  which  the  University  holds  the  perpetual 
bond  of  the  State  of  N.  Y.  at  5  per  cent  an- 
nual interest. 

EECEIPTS,  EXPENSES  AND  NET  PEOFITS. 

RECEIPTS. 

Land $4,385,708.22 

Timber    * 2,211,616.59 

Trespass  collected 20,063.90 

Hay   sold 4,136.14 

Kent  on  farm  land.  .  758.05 


$6,622,282.90 

College  Land  Scrip  Fund $688,576.12 

Land  unsold  at  $5.00  per  acre 166,112.45 


Total,  sales  and  land  unsold $7,476,971.47 

EXPENSES. 

Paid  for  Land  Scrip $309,200.00 

W.  A.  Woodward,  account  location  exp 160,831.42 

Woodward  suit  expenses 25,085.52 

Taxes    640,070.66 

Land  examination   43,577.50 

Interest 329,039.70 

Salaries    146,219.93 

Commission   on   sales 14,597.87 

Traveling   expenses 7,893.62 


62 

Maps,  books  and  stationery 1,888.28 

Stamps  and  postage 1,149.13 

Surveying  762.24 

Attorney's  fees  and  expenses. 3,647.41 

Exchange  640.72 

Profit  and  loss 1,520.59 

Location  not  through  Woodward  account.  ...  845.50 

Legislative  investigation 1,584.50 

Paid  Viles  and  Davis  for  land  sold  which 

was  afterwards  decided  to  be  within  K.  E. 

limit,  and  C.  U/s  entry  canceled 1,400.00 

Advertising  94.50 

Contingent  and  unclassified  expenses 22,135.71 


Total  expenses    $1,712,184.80 

Total  sales  and  value  of  unsold  lands $7,476,971.47 

Expenses    1,712,184.80 


Net  profit    $5,764,786.67* 

*  Net  results  to  date,  figuring  the  33,222.49  acres  of  cut 
over  lands  still  unsold  at  an  average  of  about  $5.00  per  acre. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  the  management  and  sale  of 
this  land  and  timber,  covering  a  period  of  nearly  forty  years, 
and  an  aggregate  sum  of  nearly  $7,500,000,  the  only  business 
loss  sustained  was  on  two  notes  of  $750.00  each,  for  sales 
of  timber  made  by  Mr.  Woodward  before  the  lands  were 
transferred  to  the  University.  These  notes  were  assigned  to 
the  University  Treasurer  and  were  found  to  be  worthless. 
After  repeated  efforts  to  collect  them,  the  amount  of  $1,500.00 
was  charged  to  profit  and  loss.  During  all  these  years  not 
an  acre  of  the  University  lands  was  lost  through  tax  sales  or 
any  other  cause.  This  shows  remarkable  care  on  the  part  of 
those  having  these  matters  in  charge,  'as  many  of  the  Wiscon- 
sin tax  officers  were  settlers  ignorant  of  business  methods, 
and  the  loss  of  land  through  mistakes  in  preparing  tax  re- 
ceipts was  not  uncommon  with  other  land  owners. 


63 
EZEA  COBNELL. 

First,  foremost  'and  at  all  times  the  credit  of  this  land 
scheme  is  due  to  Ezra  Cornell.  It  was  he  who  first  conceived 
of  the  plan  of  thus  increasing  the  endowment  of  Cornell. 
For  nearly  ten  years  before  his  death  he  devoted  much  of  his 
time  and  energies  and  considerable  of  his  fortune  towards  the 
carrying  out  of  this  scheme,  but  men  are  mortal  and  life 
proved  too  short  for  the  complete  execution  of  his  purposes. 
Next  to  Ezra  Cornell,  and  only  next  to  him  will  always 
stand  the  name  of  Henry  W.  Sage  (as  the  man  who  is  entitled 
to  credit  for  the  good  results  following  from  the  plan  entered 
upon  by  the  Founder.  In  1874  Mr.  Sage,  as  Chairman  of 
the  Land  Committee,  entered  upon  the  work  of  carrying  out 
the  plans  of  Ezra  Cornell.  From  1874  until  his  death,  a 
period  of  nearly  twenty  years,  the  lands  of  the  University 
located  by  Ezra  Cornell  were  under  his  constant  care  and 
supervision,  and  when  he  died  the  scheme  of  Ezra  Cornell 
had  passed  beyond  all  possibilities  of  >a  failure.  After  his" 
death  there  was  but  little  for  the  Land  Committee  to  do 
except  to  watch  and  care  for  the  remaining  lands  according 
to  the  methods  firmly  established  by  Mr.  Sage;  never  asking 
less  -and  sometimes  increasing  the  prices  fixed  by  Mr.  Sage 
before  his  death.  Today  these  lands  are  all  sold  except  a 
comparatively  few  acres  of  cut  over  lands,  which  are  now  in- 
creasing in  value  and  will  soon  be  disposed  of. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUB  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


KAR3G  1916 


91(51  8T  I' 
2Q 


(VPR    30  1931 


NOV    5 1953  HI 
INTERUBRARY  LOAI 

JUN  2-1983 
UNIV.  OF  CALIF..  BES^K. 


30m-l,'15 


25m-10,'15 


